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44-9 
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|LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.! 




^UNITED STATES OF ABIERICA. ^ 

41 ^<%.«>'^«^.^<^<%,<!fer^^^<%r<^^^^^^-^^ 



AMERICAN SLAVERY, 

1 N ITS 

MORAL AND POLITICAL ASPECTS, 

T O W H I C H 

IS SUBJOINED AN EPITOME OF 



SHEWING THE 



MUTILATED STATE OP 



ISl^DERM OHRlSTIANlTlf. 



BY 

JAM£S BROWN 



" Truth, crnslied lo earth, vrill rise again, 
The eternal years of God are hers; 

Sut Eri^ir, wounded, writhes in pain, 
And dies amid her worshippers." 



'^' And can a caucus with a nod, 
Suspend the law of I.ove 1 

• Or votes on this created clod, 
Dethrone the poweis above V 



J^RINTED BY GEO. HENRY 







Entered according to Act oi Congress, in the year 1840, by James 
Brown, in the Clerk's Office of the Northern District of New-York. 



TO THE READER. 

Ii is alike due the reader and the writer of the following pages, te 
explain that they have grown to their present form and size without 
an original plan. Mr. Clay's speech in the Senate last winter, gave 
the author an inviting text book, to express, in the form of a review, 
his own sentiments and opinions. He availed of the occasion to do 
so, through the rare and liberal indulgence of the three political pa- 
pers of the village of Oswego, and w^as thereby enabled, in a series of 
numbers, written under the signature of Philalethes-, (a lover of 
truth.) to provoke the readers of these papers to a manly debate of the 
principles and measures of the American Anti-Slavery Society. The 
w ri:er failed in drawing out such a discussion as he anticipated, and 
nothing was educed in the shape of controversial dispute, bat what is 
sufficiently noticed and explained in the review itself, to enable the 
reader to judge of its character and bearing. Shortly after comple- 
ting the numbers of the review, a resolution was adopted at a mass 
ineeting of the abolitionist^ of Oswego County, that they be published 
in a pamphlet form. In complying with this request, the v\-riter, in 
order to render the work more complete in its moral aspect, appended 
the Chapter showing the dereliction of the American Church from 
its responsibilities on this subject, and while writing that Chapter, it 
occurred to him that the root of the controversy between political abo- 
litionists and their opponents, shot deeper, and had a wider circuit than 
had yet been explored. This induced him to sketch, in the conclu- 
ling Chapter, the origin and history of what he considers a heresy of 
iiijuntainous dimensions, v.'ith which Christianity has been afflicted 
since the daj's of Constantine. 

With this explanation of the somewhat inarchitectural style in 
which this v/ork is put together, the author has no apologies to make 
to the public, nor any indulgence to crave of the pen or the tongue 
of the severest criticism. He puts his proper name on the title page ; 
not certainly to give weight to the doctrines advanced, for this humble 
work is the Alpha, and will, he presumes, be the Omega of his au- 
thorship ; but with a view of yielding to the public that justice which 
he considers due them, from the prolessed lover of truth in its undis- 
i^uised simplicity, and of identifying v^'hat little personal responsibility 
he may possess, wiih the injurious tendencies which he doubts not 
many honest, but indolent minds will deem the work instrumental in 
elfeclinsr. 



PREFACE. 

After witnessing the fate of other productions of a similar kind, 
the author has no vanity to mortify, if in the present state of the politi- 
cal, religions, and literary press of his couniiy, this work, (even if it 
appeared in a less homely dress,) should fail to ineet with that intel- 
lectual grappling of mind with mind in generous s rife, which it cov- 
ets, and which the magnitude of its subject demands of every devout 
.I.OVER OF Truth. 

THE AUTHOR, 
Oswego f February^ 1840. 



REVIEW 

OF 

N 

^^ 8f ^ J^^ "^7" Ea-<'! "f^^g ■'^T© 



KO. I. 

Mr. Editor,— 'I propose tlirough the medium of your paper, 
to examine, in a Sf ries of comrnunicaiions, as I may find time 
and opportunilyro prepare them, the speech of Henry Clay, of 
Kentucky, lately made in the Senate of the United States, on 
the subject of ArlieKican Slavery. My o!)ject in doins: this is 
two-fold. First, because Mr. Clay stands hefore thp American 
public as the contemplated candidate for the exalted office of chief 
magistrate of this na'.ion, and it consequently becomes a matter 
of public concernment that his avowed political doctrines should • 
be bron::iit in contact with the touchstone of moral truth, of de- 
mocratic principle, and of constitutional lav/. In connection with 
this object, I am desirous of inviting- public attention to the prin- 
ciples themselves with which he stands identified in this speech, 
believing as I do that they have not received that attention Vvhich 
they deserve, and that, free and temperate discussion is the only 
legitimate mode of correcting public opinion which can or ough; 
to he recognized by a fn^e people. In the exercise of the license 
to do so through the colunms of your pi ess, (a favor which is 
highly appreciated and gratefully acknowledged,) I may proba- 
bly express sentiments with which you or some of your readers 
do not concur. In that event I expect to be arraigned at the bar 
of received truth, as built upon the inductive philosophy of Ba- 
con, and tested in the crucible of his novum organon. To the 
decision of this tribunal, I trust it will ever be with me a duty 
as pleasing as it is irnpeiious to bow with reverential submission. 

The occasion embraced by Mr. Clay, for the delivery of thi» , 
speech, was the presentment by him of a petition fiom the inhab- 
itants of the District of Columbia, praying against the abolitioa 
of slavery in that District, and against the action of Congress- 
upon the abolition petitions with which their two Houses were 
then flooded. It is said by a Washingten correspondent thar 



this petition was concocted in the office of Gales & Seaton, and 
got up by his political adherents at Washington, on purpose to 
furnish him an opportunity of laying his views before the public 
preparatory to the presidential election. Ho\Tever this may be, 
the occasion was evidently sought by him, and yielded by the 
Senate rather through personal courtesy than by strict parlia- 
mentary right, of making an avowal to his political friends both 
at the north and south, of his opinions concerning slavery. How 
far he has succeeded in ingratiating southern popularity by this 
--peech is not my purpose to inquire ; but I propose to show that 
on the north side of Mason & Dixon's line at least, his doctrines 
must be revulsive to the moral sentiments and political principles 
01 all parties; that there is, aside from the intrinsic difficulties 
against which the advocate of slavery has to contend, a studied 
and lurking evasion of principle, perversion of facts and vascilla- 
:ion of purpose, which are alike demeaning to the man, unwor- 
'hy of the senator, and disparaging to the presidential candidate, 
Mr. Clay, after premising that the course he would desire to 
;ake with ami-slavery petitions, v/ould be to receive and refer 
■.hem, and ^^ in a calm and dispas.sio7iate and argnvii en lathe 
appeal to the good se7ise of the u-hole community ^^'' report 
against them, proposes to set forth in his speech such topics as 
he thinks should be embodied in such report, and further re- 
marks in his exordium that he feels himself irresistably impelled 
"0 do whatever is in his power " to dissuade the public from 
continuing to agitate a subject fraught uith the most direful 
■'^onseqnences." I too, emulous of his high example.am desirous 
)f making a '* calm, dispassionate and argumentative appeal to 
■he good sense of the whole comm.unity,*' but how this cj^n be 
■ione without agitating the subject, and in the way of dissuading 
the public from such agitation, the learned senator has not taught 
ne. If the appeal he has made to the good sense of the public 
->e calm, dispassionate and argumentative, as it purports to be, 
a what mode is that good sense to profit by the appeal without 
igitating the subject? This criticism, I am sorry to say, does 
;0t arise from a mere lapsus linguce of ihe orator, but reaches 
le foundation of the statesman's principles. The text book 
vhich he chose for the purpose of giving an exposition of those 
-principles, v/as a petition praying ihat counter petitions should 
u)t be acted upon nor agitated, and the commentator has done 
•istice to his text, and I doubt not to himself. The great drift 
i his speech is an argunaent to desist from aiguing, an appeal 
'0 common sense, beseeching her to renounce her functions, a 
-petition to reason to abdicate her ihrone. Philanthropy is also 
.mplored to suppress her sympathies, and our country women 
nre besought to reflect that " the ink which they shed in subscri- 
pting with their fair hands abolition petitions, may prove the pro- 



pn- 



iuiie to the shedding of the blood of their brethren." If this be- 
sound doctrine, it has been reserved for the boasted wisdom of 
the nineteenth centuiy, and fot the genius of our free institu- 
tions to develope it, and to disclose to an astonished world, that 
there is a principle in the human mind, instinct with sympathy 
ior the oppressed, which feeds upon elementary truth, whose ar- 
mor is free discussion ; that this principle threatens subversion 
to our republican institutions ; that in order to avert national ca- 
lamity, chains must be forged in silence for its restraint, and that 
the links of those chains constitute the bonds of our union ; that 
there is a highv/ay to national prosperity, but the lamp of truth 
must not shine upon it, and the righteousness of which it is trea 
son to question. 



XO. II. 

Mr. EniTOR, — In the opening number of this reviev/ t follow- 
ed Mr. Clay through his preparatory remarks, in which he set< 
forth the purpose and design of his speech, and after pointing 
out some of the inconsistencies involved in it, left him. On re- 
suming my task I propose to adopt the same order in the arrasge- 
raent of topics detailed' and discussed, which he has done, be- 
lieving it to be not only the most natural and simple mode, but 
the most fair and impartial to both the author and his subject. — 
This course leads me here to introduce his description of the 
three classes of persons into which he divides those who are op- 
posed, or apparently opposed " to the cGiiiinued existence oi 
Slavery in the United States." 

"The first," says he, " are those who from sentiments of philanthrK-- 
py and humanity'arc conscientiously opposed to the existence of slave- 
ry, but who are no less opposed at the same time, to any disturbance 
of the peace and tranquility of the Union, or the infringement of the 
powers of the states composing the confederacy. In all this cla?« may 
bo comprehonded the peaceful, exemplary society of 'Friends,' one 
of whose established maxims is an abhorrence of war in all its forms, 
and the cultivation of peace and good will among all mankind. Tht; 
next class consists of the apparent abolitionists — that is, those who 
having been persuaded that the right of petition has been violated bv 
congress, co-operate with the abolitionists for the sole purpose of assert- 
ing that right. And the third class are the real ultra abolitionists, 
who are resolved to persevere in the pursuit of their object at all haz 
ards and without regard to any consequences, however calamitous 
they may be. With them the rights of property are nothing; the de- 
ficiency of the powers of the general government is nothing ; the ac- 
knowledged and incontestible powers of the states are nothing; civil 
war, a dissolution of the Union, and the overthrow of a government in 
which are concentrated the fondes; hopes oi the civilized world arf. 



8^ 

aathiQ?. A single idea has taken possession of their minds, and on- 
ward they pursue il, overlooking all barriers, reckless and regardless 
of all consequences. With this class, the immediate abolition of 
slavery in the District of Columbia and in the Territory of Florida^ 
ithe prohibition of the removal of slaves from state to slate, and the re- 
fusal to admit any nev/ slate comprising within i.s limits the institu- 
tion of domestic slavery, are bat so many means conducing to the ulti- 
mate bat perilous end at which they avowedly and boldly aim, and but 
30 many short stages in thelang and bloody road l> the distant goal to 
which they would finally arrive. Their purpose is abolition, univer- 
.^al abolition, peaceably if il can, forcibly if it must. Their object is 
no longer concealed \»y the thinnest veil." He farther slates that if 
other means should be found insuihcient, that they v.'ill " invoke finally 
the more potent powers of the bayonet." 

These are certainly grave charges, and i! tiue, (considering 
the rapidly increasing numerical strength of this class of aboli- 
tionists) fully justify this professedly viiiilant seniinel of consti- 
tutional liberty, in sounding the alanii from the watch-tower of 
her citadel. They a>e made too, by a man who must haveasfuU 
and intimate knovv'ledge of the doctrines and measures of the ab- 
olitionists as any man in America ; for it must be home in mind 
ihat Mr. Chiy is President of the Colonization Society of the 
United Slates, and has, ever since its organization in 1816. been 
one of its most Zc-alous and influential membfis. That the col- 
oaizationists, for leasons which it is foreign to my purpose to ex- 
amine any farther than they are di>clo5ed in iliis speech by their 
presiding oPiicer, have waged an unremitting and deadly Itostility 
against the American Anti-Slavery Society, from its birth. It 
is therefore morally impossible that Mr. Clay, the adroit and^ 
puissant champion as he has uniformly proved himself to be in 
ihis struggle, should he ignorant of the charactei: and operations 
of the Anti-Siavery Society. However successful he and his 
coadjutors may have been in deceiving a much abused public on 
this point, they could not have been deceived themselves. Jus- 
tice to both Mr. Clay and the abolitionists, requires a careful and 
impartial examination of the truth of these charges, for by a 
rule of moral retribution, which no man understands better than 
himself, next, and only nest to the detestation due this society if 
the charges are true, must be the public odium and infamy earn- 
ed by Mr. Clay if they are shown to be false and gratuitous. 

On theGlh day of December, 1833, at the city of Philadelphia, 
the American Anti-Slavery Society commenced its organized 
existence by the delegates there assembled, adopting and sigaiag 
the following preamble and articles of association. 

" Whereas the Most High God ' hath made of one blood all nations- 
of men to dwell on all the face of the earth,' and hath commanded 
tbwn^o love iheir neighbors as themselves ; and whereas our aalionai^^ 



existence is based upon this principle, as recognized in the Declara- 
tion of In;lt']vjOuenc., ' that all men are created equal, and that they 
are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among 
which are lite, liberty and the pursuit of happiness ;' and whereas, 
after the lapse of nearly sixty years since the faith and honor of the 
American people vvere pledged to this arowal, before Almighty God, 
and the world, nearly one-sixth part of the nation are held in bondage 
by their fellow-citizens ; and whereas slavery is contrary to the prin- 
ciples of natural justice, of our republican form of government, and 
of the Chris. ijn religion, and is desiractive lothe prosperity of the 
country, while it is rndangering the peace, union and liberties of the 
States; and whereas we believe ii the duty and interest of the mast- 
ers, immediately to emancipate their slaves, and that no scheme of 
expatriation, either voluntaiy or by compulsion, can remove this great 
and increasing evil ; and v/hereas we believe that it is practicable, by 
appeals to ihe consciences, hearts and interests of the people, to awa- 
ken a public sennrnen". throughout the nation, thatv/ill be opposed to 
the continuance of slavery, prevent a general convulsion; and where- 
as we believe we owe it to the oppressed, lo our fellow-citizens who 
hold slaves, to the whole country, to posterity, and to God, to do all 
that is lawfally in our power to bring abaut the^ extinction of slavery, 
we do hereby agree with a prayerfal reliance on Divine aid, to form 
ourselves into a society, to be governed by the following 

CONSTITUTION. 

Art. 1. This Societ}' shall be called the AMEaiCAN Anti-Slayeuy 

SoCIKTf. 

Art. 2. The object of this Society is the entire abolition of slavery 
in the United States. While it admits that eac i state, in which slave- 
ry exists, has, by the cons;iiution of the United States, the exclusive 
right to legislate in regard to its rbalition in said State, it shall aim to 
convince all our fellow-citizens by arguments addressed to their un- 
derstandings and consciences, that slave-holding is a heinous crime 
in the sight of God, and that the duty, safety.and best interests of all 
concerned require its immediate abandonment, v.Mthout expatriation. 
The Society will also endeavor in a constitutional way, to influence 
Congress to put an end to the domestic slave trade, and to abolish 
slavery in those portions of our common country which come under 
its control, especinily in the District of Columbia.— and likewise to 
prevent the extension of it to any state that may be hereafter admitted 
to the Union, 

Art. 3. This Society shall aim to elevate the character and condi- 
tion of the people of color, by encouraging their intellectual, m^oral, 
and religious improvement, and by removing public prejudice, that 
thus they mav, according to their intellectual and moral worth, share 
an equality with the widtes, of civil and religious privileges; but this 
Society will never, in any way countenance the oppressed in vindica- 
ting their rights by resorting to physical force. 

Art. 4. Any person who consents to the principles of this Con- 
stitution who' contributes to the fuads of this Society, and is not a 



10 

■slavehnlder, may be a member of this Society, and shall be entitled to 
a vote at the meetings. 

The above is all that relates to the principles of this society, 
the remaining articles merely regulating its organization. Un- 
der this constitution the r^bolitionists have now been acting up- 
wards of five years. During that period they have been char- 
ged Vv^iih various unconstitutional and incendiary measures and 
designs, particularly that of sending to the slaves, papers and 
prints tending to excite them to insurrection. These charges 
have been as often repelled by the society, not only by showing 
that such conduct would amount to a violation of their vows, 
solemnly plighted in their constitution, but by a full and absolute 
denial of the tiuth of the charges, accompanied with a chal- 
lenge t(t the world to establish them by proof in a single instance. 
No such proof has been adduced, nor a single case shown of in- 
surrectionary action among the slaves grov/ing cut of the move- 
ments of this society. I shall therefore assume for the present, 
till called on for further proof, (abundance ot which is at hand,) 
that this association, like every other which professes to be gov- 
erned by conscientious motives, does not profess one thing and 
practice another, but that its constitution is a legitimate index of 
its principles, its motives, and as far as declared, its measures 
and mode of action. 

I have, therefore, Mr. Editor, spread at length this document 
before your readers, believing that most of those who join in the 
popular outcry and fashionable sneer against abolitionism, have 
never read it. I believe also, that the great mass of those who 
have assailed the despised abolitionists with blind rage and 
wrathful denunciation, (and these are the only weapons employ- 
ed to put them down) have been more sinned against than sin- 
ning, for they knew not Avhat they did. To those over whom 
this mantle of charity does not extend, the invitation is kindly 
and fearlessly tendered to scan this document closely, critically 
and severely, and point out in it if they can any principle or 
mode of action which is not built on the rock of natural and re- 
vealed truth, or which is inconsistent with the soundest doct- 
rines of constitutional lav/, or the purest democratic principles. 
I would also ask those who consider this task too laborious for 
them, to lay this instrument side by side with Mr. Clay's beauti- 
ful and justly merited eulogium on the Society of Friends, and 
point out, if they can, the slightest discrepancy between the spi- 
rit of that "bloody and incendiary" document and their peaceful 
and benignant principles. I have only room to add that if^any 
discrepancy is discovered, it has escaped the vigilance of the 
"Friends"' themselves, for the most prominent and zealous lead- 
ers in the abolition ranks, are these same non-resisting Quakers. 
Jefferson's maxim was, " resistance to tyrants is obedience to 



11 

God"--but the abolitionist has learned of the duaker to ccnstrue 
the Divine precept of the Prince of Peace " resist not eviiy 
m its simplest sense, and enjoins on the poor crushed slave, non- 
resistance to his oppressor. 



KO. III. 

Mr. Editor, — In the last number of ihis review, I laid before 
your readers the constitution of the Anti-Slavery Society, ex- 
hibitin<T its character and designs in contrast with Mr. Clay's 
description of it, for the purpose of exhibiting in one comprehen- 
sive view, the .glaring perversions and flagrant calumny with 
which he stands convicted. These documents occupied §o much 
space that little room was left for suitable comment and explana- 
tion. I propose therefore in this and one or two subsequent num- 
bers to examine briefly in detail, such features of the anti-slavery 
constitution as are more severely denounced by Mr. Clay in the 
course of his speech, and are often reprehended by many, who 
unlike him, are honestly opposed to slavery in the abstract, but 
do not concur with the abolitionists in the means proper for its 
eradication. Among those features probably the most obnoxious, 
is their doctrine of the immediate, as contra-distinguished from 
the gradual emancipation of the slave. This doctrine is view- 
ed by Mr. Clay, and I doubt not, by many who are more con- 
5ciencious though less conversant with the subject, as an idtra- 
25571 of an alarming type, and has given birth to much honest in- 
dignation, as well as designed injustice to the abolitionists. I 
cannot, therefore, I conceive, better employ my pen in advanc- 
ing the cause of justice between Mr. Clay and the victim of his 
unhallowed persecution, than by de^^oting the present number to 
an examination of this tenet of the anti-slavery creed. 

If in the advancement of legislative science a course of poli- 
cy or system of laws should be found inexpedient, or less expe- 
dient than a new or improved system, the old system ought to 
be abolished or superseded by the neW. But the institutions of 
the country built on the old system, may be so affected by the 
change that the evils incident to the tiansition state, though tem- 
porary, may go far towards counterbalancing the permanent ad- 
vantages expected from the change. In such a case the obvious 
wisdom and true policy of legislation is exhibited in passing 
from one system to the other so gradually as to occasion the 
least possible present derangement consistent with the attain- 
ment of the ultimate permanent good. This rule of legisla- 
tive expediency is very well illustrated by our tariff laws. It 
was formerly considered a good system of national policy to em- 
ploy the constitutional power of Congress over imposts, as an in- 



12 

stTiiment to foster and protect domestic manufacture?, but this 
policy IS now btinir abandoned and :<upfcrseded by tljat of im- 
posing an (id valorem duty merely as a substitute for direct tax- 
ation, and to an amount barely suffi;.;ietil to defray the orrlinary 
expenses of gjverninfnt. But as the sudden reduction of duties 
incident to an irnm^'diate chang'^ of measures would operate dis- 
astrously to 0{u many iatye and important manufacturinii inter- 
ests, the true rule of correct legislation is found in a graduated 
tariff; requirin2: a hipseof n)any y^-ar^ to complete the change. — 
But supposing ?. statute orsy-ieiii of laws is not merely inexpedi- 
ent but unconstiiuiional, a A'erv cliif rent mode of re niedying the 
evil is required. Such a statuie i; in I'act no law, and must be so 
pronounced whenever its vaiidiry comes in question. It can on- 
ly be upheld by brute for'^e, or some oiher power equally revolu- 
iionary in its operation and treasonahlf in its tendc-ncies. But 
if we look he^yo'id human compaeis rind all oilier derived power, 
and find that a system or code of laws is framed in violation of 
the primaiive and uncle rived source of power as disclo-ed by the 
liglit of nature or ihe valu.me of received inspiration, there can- 
not, in the nature of things, exist any necessity ih.U would justi- 
fy the continuation of sucii laws ibr a single dav. God com- 
mands their immediate nullification, and we must obey God rath- 
er than man. To delib"rate on the policy or exfH-dicncy of con- 
tinuing to uphold them, is to hold a council cof war against Om- 
nipotence. . 

The application of this doctrine of immediciteism to the aboli- 
tion of slave! y, raises the question, whether American slavery, 
defined and regulated by its own code of laws, and as it exists 
in its legitimate and unahused piacdce under thatcode, is intrin- 
sically sinful or not. Although the Ami- Slavery Society, in its 
constitution assumes, without reference to this question, that im- 
mediate abolition would be expedient as a matter of policy to all 
parties interested in t!ie slaveiy code, yet as this rule of expedien- 
cy is, as above shown, extremely flexible in its nature, I prefer 
not to seek its aid, but to rely on the simpler and uncompromising 
lule which the solution of this question may evolve. 

In casting about for premises or foundation truth on which to 
build an argument to prove the sinfulness of slavery, the mind is 
baffled in its search to find any thins that is more clear, simple 
and elementary in its nature, than the proposition sought to be 
proved. — Thai '' all men are endowed by their Creator with cer- 
tain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and 
the pursuit of happiness," is a pi'oposition ranked among self-evi- 
dent truths in the declaration of our national independence, and 
among the many improvements and refinements which ethical 
science has under-gone since that day, noanalysis has been made 
»f this truth into those which are more primary or elementary. 



13 

The doctrine of human ria^hls and obligations, of moral justicp, 
of the various duties of man to man, resulting from ihe fraternal 
relation of a common nat'jre. coinmon intirmity, and common suf- 
fering, are all elt-mentary principles, which are not only under- 
stood and recognized at the dawn of our existence as moral a- 
genis, but are necessarily put into daily and hourly practice dur- 
ing the wliole p'jriod of our probationary existence. They may 
he classed among tiie insiincts of immortal mind, and are often 
exhibited as perfectly in the schoolboy's debating c'.ub, as in the 
rouncils of sages or the asn^nbly of divines. If the human soul 
in ascending from its fraiernal lo its filial relation, contemplates 
Itself as a creature of GoJ impressed with his moral image, an- 
other class of truths, equally elementary, spring up. The human 
mind, however rudely developed, however degraded by sin or 
darkened by ignorance, is still a geim of immortalily, and evin- 
<;es those high born and inde^tructiole attiibuies which demon- 
strate its Divine pateniity. No mattei in what zone of his foot- 
stool the God of nature mav lr.ive cast his nativity, or breathed 
the immortal principle into his quickening bodv, no matter how 
fiercely that body may have been burnt upon by a loir'd sun, he 
is still the CHILD OF God, and as sucb has high duties to discharge, 
interests of infinite masfnitud'e to advanc^^, and a glorious destiny 
to fulfil. Aithouzh G-hI's. creature, he is too digi.ified. too God 
like to be his slave. God negotiates with him as a free moral 
agent, in the full and unrestrain'^d exercise of his own violation. 
Heieason^ with him to convincp his understanding: that the on- 
ly accessible way to happiness is in the path of obedience, but 
leaves him free to obey or lo disobey, at his option. In vi'-'W of 
this relation, it must be obvious that man, however degraded and 
abject, stands immeasurablv and infinitely higher in point of rank 
than f\ b°ast, or a tree, or any othei object over which the Crea- 
tor has given him dominion. Even the noblest creature of the 
material universe, the sun him-elf, in diffusing light and heat 
over a dependent and otherwise benighted and dreary assemb- 
lage of surrounding worlds, is but a means, of vast beneficence, 
indeed, but still a means, a mete subservient to other creatures, 
whose slory is summed up in mere utility; but man is a great, 
an infinite end in himself, and any measures tending to tran*?- 
mute him from an end into a means, to restrain, hamper or im- 
pede the U'i2Q and Godlike aitiihutes of his nature in his hisrb 
career of action, is not cnlv doinij him an immense wrong, bul 
is a personal insult to his great Prototype. 

But slavery supposes one man to be absolutely and entirely un- 
der the control and dominion of another. The master's will is 
ihe slave's supreme and only rule of action, however repu^rnaot 
it may be to his own, or that of his God. If the master relaxes 
this rule, ii is considered yielding a right, and is lobe esteemed a 



14 

lavor not to be claimed of the master's justice but to be besought 
of his mercy. Such are the principles on which the American 
Slave Code is built. "A slave" (says the Louisiana Code) '' is 
one who is in the pov^^er of his master to whom he belongs ; the 
master may sell him, dispose of his person, his industry and his 
labor; he can do nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire anything 
but what belongs to his master 5 they are to be considered rea i 
estate, and as such may be mortgaged, and levied upon and sold.'' 
"Slaves" (says the South Carolina Statute) "shall be deemed, 
sold, taken and reputed to be chattels personal, in the hands of 
their owners and possessors, their executors, administrators and 
assigns, to all intents, constructions and purposes whatever." 

In order to keep his body in subjection it is necessary that his 
mind should be 'put out, as far as practicable; hence " mental 
instruction" is forbidden him under severe penalities and it ii 
made penal to teach him how to " search the scriptures^ The 
marriage rite is prohibited or nullified and the command of God 
enjoining the relative duties of husband and wife, parent and 
child, brother and sister are supplanted by the slave code, and 
the pure fountain of happiness and joy which God has ordained 
to spring from the faithful discharge of those duties is denied 
him. 

Ii is a painful, and ! ttust, an unnecessary task for me even to 
eouiuerate all the slave's bereavements, and I gladly resign it in 
the perfect conviction that I have hinted at enough of them to 
convince every unprejudiced mind, that the name of slavery is 
Legion among moral evils — that if the slaveholders were a na- 
tioa of Howards, they could not vighieously employ such powers 
$ii a means to elTt-ct any end, however noble and philanthropic. 

But a new battery has been opened on this doctrine of the ab- 
oltiuiiists with a briet nolice of which I must close these reniarks. 
U was till lately conceded by all parties that slavery was a moral 
uvil, iiad would be a great sin, but for the greater evil in the car- 
h&^t', luassacre and murders consequeui upon emancipation. — 
But the great and triumphant experiment of immediate abolition 
iiS prdciised in the West Indies, has stripped the slaveholder of 
tvery shadow of excuse, and has laught him. what he ought to 
havtf taken oi- irust, that the pathof duty is always the path of 
safety. Driven from this refuge, he and his apologist are forced 
upuG a viadicaiion of the righteousness of slavery, and have ap- 
pealed to the volume of Revelation to sustain its unhallowed 
code. Tliis ii not the first time that the holy oracles of revealed 
truth hare been iuvoked to sanctify exploded error and convicted 
iniquity, but I may boldly assert that it is the first time the appeal 
hds uewn made without the shadow of authority and in defiance 
of ike received axioms of moral truth. It is not my design in 
ihii pl^ice to (ipen the cacred volume and cant ass the few isolated 



15 

texts relied on to vindicate an institution, compounded as slave- 
ry is, of heinous sins which are denounced on itS' every page. — 
I will content myself here to ask, in christian meekness and be- 
coming' docility of spirit, those consecrated teachers in Isiael 
who expound the word of God in vindication of slavery, what 
attitude they propose to assume, when contending with the infi- 
del for the truth of divine revelation ? Chnslianity has been 
ably attacked with every weapon that human ingenuity could 
invent or human depravity forge, but she has again, with the 
sword of truth, signally and triumphantly routed and discomfited 
her enemies, and driven them scattered and dismayed from the 
field. The last weapon that was raised against her Avas the pro- 
lane sneer and obscene ribaldry of Faine and his feeble brood of 
prosolytes; but could that infidel have discovered that American 
slavery was consistent with Christianity, with what force could 
he have employed those philosophical truths, so ably expounded 
by hira in his Rights of man, to bear against the bulwarks of the 
christian's faith? If those truths w^hich I have here vainly at- 
tempted to elucidate in conseqaence of their being self-evident^ 
are not in accordance wiih the bible, then it is equally self-evi- 
dent that the God of Nature, cannot be the God of Pvcvelation. — 
The infidel instead of appealing to the base and grovelling pas- 
sions of our nature, will build his fortress oa the rock of invinci- 
ble truth, as received and acknowledged by common consent, and 
will hurl his shafts with omnipotent power against the iritherto 
impregnable battlements of the cross. Instead of worshipping 
at the shrine of brutal voluptuousness he will erect a temple lo 
the God of nature, and dedicate it as a sanctuary to the oppres- 
sed victim of a religion which professes g-ooe/ i.^-i// io men, bat 
which sanctions his being chatteliztd by his fellow men. In 
this temple the slave-holders oblation will be an abominable 
thing, and he will be told by the priest of the sanctuary, in the 
language of him who is represented to have spoken as never iiiaii 
?pake ''Leave thy gift before the altar and go thy way, firsi be 
reconciled to thy brother and then come and offw^r thy gift.'' 



NO. IV. 

Having in the last number shown that American Slavery was 
intrinsically a sin or a transgression of the moral law, I proj)os<i 
in this to inquire upon whom and to what extent the re^ponsibi!i- 
ty of it rests. The leading object of Mr. Clay's speech is to 
convince us, citizens of the free slates, that American slaverv is 
fio concern of ours. "Utterly destitute" (says he) '"of coniiila- 
tional or other rightful power, living in totally distinct communi- 
ties, as alien to the communities in which the subj^ut oa v>'hich 



16 

thev ^wonld operate resides, so far as concerns political power 
over that subject, as if they lived in Africa or Asia, they (the ab- 
olitionists) promulgate to the world their purpose tu be to manu- 
mit forthwith and without compensation and without moral prep- 
aration, three millions of nesfro slaves under jurisdictions alto- 
gether separated from those under which they live." "The 
slavery which exists among us is our affair, not ihurs, and they 
have no more just cone Tn with it than they have with slavery 
as it exists throughout the world." These and kindred positions 
are assutned in evtiy variety of form, and wmplilii d ai d illustra- 
ted with the orator's usual powtrs of eloq;.ei,ce, iad (as I shall 
presently shov/) more than his usual laxity ff p'ivc'j le and con- 
tempt of truth. Mr. Clay labors to con'u.:n;i am! ju.i.ble together 
the two classes of liuties and responsibilities wineii t!ie aboli- 
tionists conceive devolve on them, but which in ti.t.ir constitu- 
tion and the nature of things are entirely and ul vioiisly distinct 
and unconnected. One ot these, and probiibly i;. ■ onr' of lesser 
magnitude, arises from their being citizi. ).' \'hU republican 
government on whom, as such, the responsihiiTy ' '. the law mak- 
ing power, so far as their influence is connr:).;. df:Volves, in 
which capacity they, in their constitution, dtfin' and limit the 
extent of this duty by statins: that ihey " \viihi)deavor in a con- 
stitutional v/ay to influence Congress to putanind to the domes- 
tic slave trade and to abolish slaveiy in those part^of our count- 
ry which come under its control, especially in the Di.^rict of Co- 
lumbia, and to prrveni the extension of it to any stute that may 
he hereafter admitted to the Union," and to prevent misapprehen- 
^ion they at the same time admit in tiii< article of their constitti- 
tion '• tliai each state in which slavery exists, has by the consti- 
tution of the United Slates, the exclusive right to legislate in 
regard to its ahoHiion in said state?'' While contending that 
Congress can and ought to exeicise those constitutional powers 
abov'e enumerated, the aboliiioniMs concede that Congress has 
DO more power or rinht to repeal the si iv codes of the different 
states, than they would to repeal th< act of t!ie British parlia- 
ment abolishing slavery in the \Ve>t Indies. The powers which 
Ihe abolitioni>ts conterid that Cor :,n ess can lawfully exercise^ 
have never been seriously disputed by any one. Even Mr. Clay, 
in this speech, does not hazard his rejiutntion as a constitutional 
lawyer so far as franklv and openly to srive a denial of the cor- 
rectner-s of their doctrines. He, and all the other opponents to 
anti-slaverv action m Con^res?. have not, tb.at T am aware of, 
ffone further than contend ihat Congie^s, h - cboli-hing slavery 
in the Di^^trict of Columbia, would commit .;n act of ill faith to- 
T.-aids Virginia and Maryland, by whom the District was ceded 
to the federal government, and that ^uch act -yould amount tea 
fraud on the spirit and intent of the compact under which lh« 



17 

cession was made. To the many answers made to this objec- 
tion. I propose to add one which 1 do not remember to have secti 
used by the abolitionists. Among the enumerated powers con- 
ferred by the constitution on Congress, is that ''to exercise ex- 
elusive leg-islationin all cases whatsoever over such dhinei (not 

.^exceeding ten miles square) as may by cession of particular states 
and the acceptance of Congress become the seat of government 

.of the United States." This it must be remembered is an ex- 
tract from the primitive, organic and supreme law of the land, 
and that consequently, any national treaty, act of Congress, 
state constitution, legislative act, or other human compact or con- 
vention whatever, which impinges on the full and absolute su- 

. preiracy and sovereign authority of this law must fall to the 
firouad as a mere nullity. If, therefore, as is contended, there 
was an implied faith, mutual understanding, pledge of honor, 
mental reservation, or other design, uttered or unultered. in the 
rninds of the legislatures of Virginia and Maryland on the one 
part, or of the federal authorities who accepted the cession on 
vije other, that Congress should not exercise its uncontrolled and 
absolute dominion orer this spot of ground, such design or pledge 
so far as it was intended to influence posterity, can be viewed in 
no better light than a conspiracy to pervert the organized func- 
tions of government, and instead of being respected, should l)e 
contemned as a treasonable plot, by everv friend to constitution- 
al law and order. 

This brings me to notice one of the many and shifting posi- 
:i;ins which Mr. Clay has at length taken in relation to this ques 
tion, which meets my entire concurrence. He says that congress 
in legislating for the district has two duties to discharge ; the 

• first is to lender it available and convenient as the seat of the 
federal goveinment, and the other (which is toially distinct) i? 
to legislate for the benefit and with reference to the interests and 
wishes of the inhabitants of the district. He then has the hardi- 
hood to ask '"is it necessary in order to render this place a com- 
fortable seal of the general government to abolish slavery within 
its limits? No one (he adds) will advance such a proposition." 
In this he is mistaken, for I am one who will not only advance 
it, but in behalf of deeply insulted liberty, will answer his inter- 
rogatory by asking that brazen reprobate from her temple, if it is 
.1 •' comfortable'''' thing for congress, in the plenitude of its power 
over the subject, to sustain in its midst an institution abhorred 
by God and man, and bid the iron of slavery enter into seven 
thousand human souls ? Is it '* comfortable''' iov the American 
.patriot, philanthropist or christian, to see exhibited to the deris- 
ion of the haughty representatives of European despotism, that 
.last hope of liberty^ the star spangleo banner, floating in its 
'.'.vn appropriate citadel, over Us enchained ^nd imbruted feU«\r 



18 

men 7 Does it glad the patriot's eye to see, as I have latelf 
seen, the American eagle describe'.! with sarcastic bitterness, in 
a British periodical, as bearing aloft in his talons the lacerated 
and gasping body of a I'idnapped child of Africa? Is it '* com- 
fortable^- to see thus desecrated, this little green spot of ground, 
this sanctum sanctorum of hwERrv, towards which her votaries 
thioughout the wide world open the windows of their chambers 
that they may look hitherward, when, like Daniel, in defiance of 
the iron law of despotism, they bend in devotion three times a 
day? 

I am next led to notice Mr. Clay's labors and waste of strength 
to prove that the power given to congress " to regulate commerce 
Tvith foreign nations and among tlie several states," is, as he 
terras it, conservative and not destructive^ and consequently 
does not authorize a prohibition of the inter- state slave trade. 
To this objection 1 will only remark that congress in the exercise 
of this power as regards foreign nations " regulated''^ commerce 
so as to bring it within the laws of God, by declaring the African 
slave trade to be Piracy, and by the same constitutional, and as 
I conceive by the same moral rule, they can and ought so to 
regulate the inter-state slave trade. If Mr. Clay's scruples of 
conscience about the constitutional meaning of the worl '' regu- 
late" are not relieved by this remark, I add for his benefit 
another mode of construing this word. Let the domestic slave 
trade be so " regulated," that no human being shall be trans- 
ported out of his native state, without his fiec and voluntary 
consent, given on a careful examination, before a court or some 
judicial officer. 

If these views are correct, the question is very properly ad- 
dressed to every citizen who believes slavery to be sinful, how 
he is to be relieved from the weight of that sin, unless he uses 
bis constitutional power in favor of congressional action in these 
several modes in which congress has jurisdiction of the subject? 
But this, as I remarked before, is a comparatively limited and 
restricted, though I believe a legitimate and unexceptionable 
imode of anti-slavery action. 

The great field of duty is moral influence, not as citizens, hut 
as accountable human beings, on this and all other sins that 
exist in our country, or in the world, whether sanctioned or un- 
sanctioned by civil government. The enquiry how far we ate 
responsible for the various moral evils with which the world is 
overspread, in what capacity and to what extent, and in what 
mode we can discharge that responsibility and stand acquitted of 
chose evils, is a curious and interesting branch of ethical science, 
which has not received that attention its great practical impor- 
tance and utility wowld warrant. However interesting a task it 
would be for me to examine fully these questions in all their 



19 

bearings, I cannot without twanifest digression, do more ia thii 
place than refer lo a few general and elementary principles, 
which I do not propose to spend time in illustrating, believing 
that they will not be seriously controverted. 

The chief end of a virtuous life and the polar star of duty, is 
to bend our energies to the relief, removal and prevention of 
human misery : and every good and wise man will carefully 
husband his pecuniary, his physical, his intellectual and his mo- 
ral resources, his station and his character in society a? so much, 
aggregate capital confided to him for the purpose of expenditure 
in doing good. In this pursuit it is a solecism to suppose that 
too much zeal can be employed. But the fundamental error into 
which many good but misguided minds fall, and which is the 
basis and source of all 'iltraism and fanaticism together, with the 
numerous spav/n of affiliated evils which follow in their train, 
consists in the ensployment of improper and unwarrantable 
means to attain the desired end. As shown in my last number, 
every man is a responsible moral agent, and any infraction of 
his rights as such, throws him out of his legitimate sphere, 
breaks the harmony of the moral law, and does him an unspeaka- 
ble wrongf. No matter how benevolent our designs may be 
towards him. we have no right to arrogate the power of coercing 
him to what we may think is for his good. This doctrine I thea 
applied to the usurped authority of the master over his slave, 
and it has an equal though less palpable application in our 
course of conduct towards what we consider the sins of the 
slaveholder. I am free to concede that so far as his sins arc 
concerned in the slavery question, we have done our duty when 
we have laid before him firmly and frankly what we believe to 
be the truth, and have in kind and friendly remonstrance ad- 
dressed to his understanding and heart, such arguments as have 
convinced our understandings and hearts of the sinfulness of 
slavery. Here our duly to him ends, and whether we are 
heeded or unheeded by him, we are no longer responsible for his 
sins. Thus far, if I remember right, I am sanctioned by the 
anihority of the Rev. President Wayland,in his very ingeniout 
and partly sound and partly sophistical treatise on the doctrine 
of human responsibility. But there are other duties than those 
which we owe to the slaveholder, which with mingled surprise 
and regret, I find that he has passed over in silence. On taking 
leave of the hospitable slaveholder, the victim of hi« oppression 
must not be forgotten in the circle of our relative duties. Al- 
though he is a thing, a mere chattel in the eyes of his master, 
vet in our estimation he is our ^'' neighbor, ^^ whom we are en- 
joined to love as ourselves ; and who, though dumb, can make a 
more eloquent and moving appeal to that love than did he in his 
calamity who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho to the sym- 



20 

pathies of the Samaritan. However striking: the analogy, :>i 
cannot in charity suppose that the reverend President did, like 
his sacerdotal brethren of the elder dispensation, designedly 
^^pas8 by on the other side'^ of so bereaved a ^^ neighbor J^ I am 
left, however, to pursue this branch of my enquiry unaided by 
the guidance of his learned hat peculidrized pen. 

We are bound by the terms of the compact with the slave- 
holder to lend him our physical arm when needed to aid in pre- 
venting the slave from rising and seeking to gain his rights by 
violence. While we redeem as we ought, this pledge in its 
letter and its spirit, does it not place us in a relation to the slave 
which renders it peculiarly proper and befitting that we should 
stand forth his firm and zealous advocate in appealing from his 
oppressor's sense of justice to the moral influence and opinion 
of the world? This is indeed a vague tribunal, but it has legi- 
timate and universal jurisdiction. It is, too, the only earthly 
court which lends an ear to the slave's complaint, or recognizes 
him as a suiter on its records, and even here he has no means of 
being heard in person. Bereft of every other mode of redress. 
and having moral rights for which he has no other remedy, does 
not the duty rest with additional v/eight on the conscience of 
every friend of justice and humanity throughout the wide world 
to bear firm, faithful and righteous testimony in his behalf? And 
does it not rest on us, who are connected with him in an endless 
variety of political relations, (although by none are we enabled 
to afford him direct relief,) to act as his neji't friend in carrying 
on this appeal? In so great and humane a cause, I know of no 
means within the scope of impartial and exact truth, which we 
may not freely and zealously employ. In conducting this appeal 
we must be equally fearfiil of domg injustice to the oppressor 
and the oppressed, and the sin of slavery must lie on our con- 
sciences, if, in compliance with Mr. Clay's appeal to us as fellow 
citizens, we suppress and smother truth. The ^'■peculiar insti- 
tutions of the South" must set up no peculiar claims to exemp- 
tion from such a trial. Let justice be done, though it force the 
slaveholder to relinquish either his victim or his character. To 
the full benefit of such an alternative, the slave has a righteous 
claim, for it is his only earthly hope; nor can I for a moment 
doubt that whatever course Mr. Clay and a few callous hearted 
and ruthless politicians of his school may take when brought to 
this alternative, that the great body of the truly high minded and 
chivalrous sons of the south will unhesitatingly and instinctively 
surrender their early and peculiar predilections to an enlightened 
and virtuous public opinion, by repealing their slave codes and 
Jetting the oppressed go free. 



in my last two numbers 1 was employed in eslablishing the 
doctrine that slavery wps a great moral evil, a sin of enornaous 
magnitude against human nature — that the responsibility of its 
continuance lested on our consciences, to a certain extent, di- 
rectly as citizens of the free states, in our political capacity and 
to a still greatei extent as members of the human family, enter- 
taining as we ought, a lively and deeply sympathetic interest m 
whatever affects any portion of that family, or encroaches on the 
attributes of man. If I had succeeded as I think I must have 
done, in establishing these positions to the satisfaction of every 
careful and candid examiner, it might naturally be expected that 
I would have brought my remarks to a close, believing that I had 
attained my proposed end — that I ought to have relied on the 
moral and political truisms, that righteousness, justice and duty 
are infallible standards of expediency, or according to the favo- 
rite and ruling maxim of the father of his country, "honesty is 
the best 'policy,'''' But, strange as it may seem to an unsophis- 
ticated mind, if I had stopped heie my task would have been 
done but by halves, and the wretched victim of our oppression 
would be still left ivrithing in his chains. Thereis on this 
subject a modern Jesuitism, which surpasses in subtlety, as much 
as it falls short in speciousness, that which moulded the conscien- 
ces of our monastic ancestors of the 16th century. In the boasted 
march of mind it has outstripped our moral and intellectual 
philosophy. It has attained the professor's chair and is clinging 
for no feeble support to the American pulpit. Among the max- 
ims coined for practical currency in its mint, some to advance 
the designs of the crafty politician, and some to soothe the con- 
science of the unreflecting christian, may be reckoned the follow- 
ing—all is fair in politics— in order to avoid a union of church 
and state, the good man must, when going to the ballot box, 
leave his conscience behind him— what is individually wrong 
may be nationally right — a moral and democratic body of 
legislators, representing a moral and democratic constituency, 
can establish and uphold the most immoral and abominable 
despotism and oppression the sun ever shone on — the "peculiar 
institution^'^ compounded as it is of moral and political enormi- 
ties, must not be assailed politically because it is a moral evil, 
and by the same logic reciprocated from the pulpit, it must not 
be denounced there because it is a political evil — unrighteous- 
ness, when borne into high places by the misguided opinion of a 
christian nation, and hedged in and built up on human statutes, 
(the legitimate impress of that opinion under our democratic 
institutions,) is changed in its nature and name, and it must no 



22 

longer be denounced from the pulpit, but it is to be revered as 
"an ordinance of God," " a mysterious dispensation of Provi- 
dence" — iniquity, as it grows hoary with years, emits a self- 
sanctifying exudation, or, as Mr. Clay more piously expresses 
it, " that is property which the law declai es to be property , and 
two hundred years of legislation have sanctioned and SANC- 
TIFIED negro slaves to be property.'''' We must choose the 
least of two moral evils, and in applying the modern conscience- 
gauger, to settle the question oUiifferential turpitude, we must 
follow this GREAT COMPROMISER to itie national slave market, and 
ascertain the minimum and maximum price current of a human 
soul at the federal shambles. After making due allowance for 
tare and tret, old age and decrepitude, he averages the nett value 
of one-fifth of all that portion of our race, whose iiesh and bones 
are made like our own, of republican earth, at ^400 a head, and 
multiplying ihese §400 by 3,000,000 of souls, gives, according to 
his aiitlimeiic, a product in dollars of 1200,000,000 /ec/^ra^ cur- 
rency. This aggregate capital is a tangible and ponderous good, 
and when placed in the avoirdupois balance of his conscience, 
outweighs liberty, justice, humanity, honesty, philanthropy, 
and all such like impalpable and theiefore impracticable "a6- 
str actions.^'' 

In order, therefore, to befriend the slave, it is necessary that I 
should descend Irora the highway of principle, althous-h so plain 
that the waylarmg man, although a fool, (unless such an one as 
hath said in his heart there is no God.) need not err therein. It 
is necessary to lend a patient ear to the objections slated, and 
obstacles direct and collateral, conjured up a^aiast anti-slavery 
action, vvhich our expediency statesman has, likf an adroit fiedd 
marshal, arrayed in the form of a phalanx ag.unst us— at the 
apex of which stands in severe and awful majesty, " danger of 
DISSOLVING THE UNION." I proDose, th^Teforc, to inquire into the 
validity and nu'iits of this objection, which not only Mr. Clay, 
but many Aviih more sincerity, thoush less research than he, are 
vehemently urging against the abolitionists. 

The distinctive principles of constitutional democracy, as 
illustrated by their great expounder, Thomas Jefierson, and as 
now (professedly at least,) conceded by all political parlies, are, 
that the states aie independent and distinct sovereign powers, in 
each of whom is inherent all political power not expressly and 
unequivocally granted to the federal government for the common 
weal. That the federal constitution is in iact but a compact or 
treaty of alliance and confederation voluntarily entered into by 
sovereicrn and otherwise independent states, for cert:iin purposes 
therein'specified, and for no other purposes, that this compact 
like everv other is binding and obligatory on all the parties to it, 
to the extent that it purports to bind them respectively, but nQ 



23 

farther; that nothing is to be taken by implication, but each 
state, after yielding full and entire compliance with its constitu 
tional obligations thus construed, has kept its faith and honor 
unbroken with the sister republics, and it is at perfect litjerty to 
mould its own peculiar institutions according to its own sove- 
reign will and pl.^a-ure. The constitution indeed guaranties to 
every state in the Union a republican form of government, bur 
beyond this, liiey, as states, have no control over each other's 
peculiar institutions. In meeting our sister republics in con- 
gressional deliberation, I would carry into that body a geneious 
and conciliatory spirit. On mere questions of local policy and 
pecuniary interest, I would even purchase friendship by carrying 
out that wisi- and benignant precept which enjoins us rather to 
suffer wrong than, do irrong. I would do so, iiowever, not for 
the sake o{ preserving the Union, but of s/renglhening it. But 
when the great principle of the rights of man are involved, 
when the question whether human slavery is to be engrafted on 
federal soil is at issue, or whether the domestic slave trade is to 
be tolerated by congress, I would lay judiimcnt to the line and 
righteousness to the plummet. I would look into the constitu- 
tion, and while I scrupulously and punctiliously kept faith with 
theSouth, as plighted in that instrument, I v.'ould also see how 
far my arm was hampered by it, in striking a death t3low, and 
cutting up by the roots this moral Upas, this national reproach. 
I would say to the slaveholder, keep your own peculiar institu- 
tions within your own appropriate territory, beyond the range 
of congressional action, for 1 have, in following the example of 
your own illustrious Jefferson, sworn upon the altar of my 
country's liberty, eternal opposition to tyranny in all its forms, 
and although as tau£ht by your venerated Jackson, we will, in 
acting with you under the federal com.pact, r.'k nothing that 13 
not clearly right, we cannot, and on this subject ought not, to 
submit to any thing that is wrong. 

Now, if we compare these simple and impartial rules of con- 
struing the constitution and the mutual rights and duties of the 
states to each other under it, with the course pursued by certain 
Southern politicians, it will be found that thev have as rrude and 
ill-defined a sense of constitutional law, as they have of their owa 
state lav.'s and slave codes. In goveinins their slaves, in re- 
strainingfree discussion and the libertyofthe press among their 
fellow citizens, and in opposing congressional action on the sla- 
very question, they employ but one weapon — intimidation. — 
This ihey wield in the ehape of a cat 0' vine tails with the 
first, lynchino: and mobbing the second, and a threat to commit 
perfidy and dislionor by breaking the bonds of the Union with 
the last. All are used with great bluster and tenor-inspiring 
menace, and success is as confidently expected, and, as I shaU 



24 

presently show, as certainly attained, in the last case as in the 
tirst. la both, arguments are used, the cogency of which none 
but a slaveholder can exhibit, and none but a slave, (I had almost 
said) can appreciate. 

That £ am not speaking at random, Mr. Editor, let me refer 
you to the several occasions in which the South has employed 
xhh threat to dissolve the Union* When Missouri sought ad- 
mission into the sisterhood of lepublics with a slaveholding con- 
stitution in her hand, the South raised this war cry, and the 
North, in that species of compromise which freedom makes 
whencolleaguing with slavery or virtue with vice, bent her sup- 
pliant knee to the Southern divinity, and received Missouri into 
the Union with slavery engraven on her forehead. It was in 
virtue of this threat that the Indians were driven out from the 
South, and that the tariff, adopted at their own suggestion, was 
modified to their wishes. Emboldened by such uniform suc- 
cess, this talismanic threat is now unblushingly employed to put 
down Northern freedom of speech and of the press, to crush mo- 
ral influence in behalf of liberty, and in relieving the oppressed 
and humanizing the imbruted. The slaveholder's humble min 
ion at the North, in more abject vassalage than his victim at the 
S^outh, is so unconscious of the high-born and indomitable im- 
pulses which fire a freeman's bosom, that he thinks he can put 
down moral, with brick bat discussion. As the lion at the 
South roars, his jackal at the North yelps and snaps at the heels 
of the proscribed but undaunted votaries of truth and liberty. 

Ohio hag, indeed, in her darkest hour, bowed her spirit to the 
fell demon, and passed a law by which her freeborn and virtu- 
ous sons are to be fined and imprisoned, if, dictated by thepuresi 
sympathies of humanity, they spread their table to feed the poor 
persecuted victim, who, panting for freedom, and prompted by 
native untutored heroism, swims her noble river and flees, a 
hunted and stricken deer, through the " buck eye'' state to regaiu. 
his lost manhood under the British flag. But the deep damna- 
tion of that deed has aroused in her borders a spirit, to tyranny 
awful, as that which passed before the vision of Eliphaz the Te- 
Tnanite,and the ear of her Morris *'hath received a little thereof." 
That truly democratic and high minded Senator, after standing 
forth boldly and alone in the national councils, and rebuking the 
demon of slavery which had just then given itself utterance 
through the chartered powers of Mr. Clay's eloquence ; after 
bearding the lion in his own den, this noble statesman adds, 
" my belief in the truth of the doctrine of the declaration of in- 
dependence, the political creed of Jefferson, remains unshaken 
and unsubdued. I hope in returning to my home and my friends, 
to join them again in rekindling the beacon fires of liberty upoc. 
2?veryhiIUa our state, until the broad glare shall enlighten ev^rp- 



25 

fafley, and the song of triumph shall be heard to that holy Bein;? 
who cannot look upon oppression but with abhorrence." 

In my next number, I will examine whether the Union is in 
real danger or not from these threats, but I must close this by 
remarking, that if it can be preserved only by suppressing dis- 
cussion and the liberty of the press, we must not substitute the 
means for the end. If besides fulfillmg the compact on our pan, 
the South wantonly breaks faith with us by refusing to fulfil on 
theirs, unless we also bow to their Moloch, then the Union, in- 
stead of being the glory ^ is the reproach of the age we live in. 
Ills the union of virtue and her handmaid liberty, in the loatheij. 
and deadly embrace of slavery— it is such an union as Menzea- 
lius effected when 

•'The living to the rottin? dead 

The God conteraning Tuscan tied, 
Till, by the way, or on his bed, 

The poorcorte-carrier drooped and died; ■ 
Lashed hand to hand and face to face, 
In fatal and in loathed embrace." 

NO. VI. 

* In fulfilment of the proneise made in my last number, I propose 
ia this to enquire whether the slaveholding states will execute 
their oft repeated threat of dissolving the Union, unless we ol the 
North cease from anti-slavery action m Congress. In deciding 
this question, we have loo much reason to fear from past expe- 
rience that they will be governed more by a iense of interest 
than a fear of violating faith with us, for it must be remembered 
that in their threats to secede, they have seldom urged any other 
pretext than self-interest. I do not wish, however, to be under- 
stood that in the mass of southern virtue and honor, there is not 
a sense of what is due to plighted public faith, that would go far 
towards preserving the Union at a liberal sacrifice of interest ,; 
but in the brief remarks Lara going to make on this question, I 
am willing to leave out of view every motive excepting interest 
alone, by which they might be actuated. 

The burthen of the slaveholders complaint now is, that the 
North talks about slavery, discusses its principles, and is begin- 
ning to follow, at a humble distance, the example of the whole 
christian world, in denouncing it as a great moral and political 
evil. The obvious effect of seceding for this cause, would be 
toinciease that discussion, and thereby open the eyes of those 
who have heretofore seen its evils darkly. Anti-slavery discuss- 
sion at the North, which is now under the bann of political and 
mercenary restraint, would become a popular hobby, and the 
demagogue who now fawns for the slaveholder's vote, would 
wek, and would fiiad, popularity in ultra haired of slavery. 



26 

The very act of dissolving the Union for this cause, and of 
forming a new confederation, as the slaveholding states would 
have to in order to preserve their beloved institution, would 
create such a discussion among themselves in their primary- 
assemblies, their stale conventions and congress of delegates, as 
would open the eyes of a majoritv of their own citizens to the 
newly discovered abominaiiuns of slavery. But aside from this, 
what power would this new slaveholding nation acquire to dar- 
ken the understanding and paialyze the consciences of its citi- 
zens, which It does not now practise ? The freedom of the 
piess, on this subject, throughout the slave region, from Mary- 
land to Florida, is already extinguished. In those cases where 
state laws do not extend far enough, lynch clubs and commit- 
tees of vigilance step in, and visit with summary punishment 
those who have the temerity to speak above their breath the 
self-evident truths enumerated in the declaration of indepen- 
dence. 

If the Union were dissolved, or the South were lo secede 
from It, the mutual rights and duties of the slaveholding and the 
non-slaveholding stales under the federal constitution would 
cease. The free states, instead of biing as they now are, the 
hunting-grounds of fugitives from slavery, v/ould become, in fact, 
what oT]i' 4th of July orators, by a trope more resembling irony 
than metaphor, represent as ''the asylum of the oppressed." 
A confedeiacy of slaveholding states would be a new thing un- 
der the sun. Slavery cannot stand alo^e, but must lean on. 
freedom for physical strength to uphold it, and I doubt not but 
that long ere this, thv South would have been involved in all 
the horrors of a servile v/ar, if the slave had not been taught by 
his master that the fleeis and armies of the nation, the militia of 
the north, were a standing army pledged to suppress his insurrec- 
tionarv efforts. A nation isolated from freedom, in which the 
laboring class, the bone and muscle of the countrv, is enslaved, 
is marked out by the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, as a 
doomed and devoted land. To avoid the horrors of servile war, 
it must rely on a mercenary army to uphold its tottering institu- 
tions, and as a necessary result, the oppressor himself becomes 
the oppressed victim of a military des|)olism. For slavery, there- 
fore, to threaten to secede frovn freedom, is like the clay threat- 
ening to separate from the iron, or the pauper to dissolve con- 
nection with his parish. 

A word to Clio— she is cordially greeted bv Phh.alethes as 
a coadjutor in ''moral suasion," and in promoting free and 
temperate discussion, Philalethes is enamored of the muses 
much, but of truth more. He loves, indeed, of a sportive hour 
Jo flirt with the Nine sisters among the springs and founts of 
Castalia, or the grois and groves of Parnassus j but the magnet 



27 

cf his heart never forgets to be drawn to the ruling star of his 
destiny with unerring polarity. The idol of his affections is, 
indeed, never more charming, than when heaming with that 
enthusiasm which is inspired by int*^rming!ing sentiments with 
the muses, but in yielding to the ^'Jinefre7izy,"' she must not 
be allured to renounce her own cha^le and simple robe, for the 
gaudy drapery and meretricious trappings woven in the loom of 
an unbridled imagination. That she is in danger cf being thus 
decoyed in yielding to the influence of Clio, is not asserted nor 
insinuated ; but it is insisted, that the historic musr has erred 
(for once ac least,) in her facts relative to the alhged ameliora- 
tion of the southern slave codes, and the growing tendency of 
public opinion at the south towards the abolition of slavery, 
before the commencement of northt-rn action on that subject. 
These can and will be corrected when called for, another lime ; 
but v/ith Clio's opposition to political action to rt-medy a politi- 
cal evil, with her dtduciions from assumed facts and her ethical 
principles, so far as she has revealed herself, I am still more at 
variance. I would fain hope, however, that in this, as in most 
other cases of ffreat apparent diversity of opinion, much concilia- 
tion may t)e eff-cled by a frank and open avowal of our respect- 
ive- elementary principles. • Contending for the sake of truth, 
and not for the sake of victory, I abhor a masked battery, and 
•will, therefore. Mr. Editor, with PA?7(//e//tea;i artlessness, lay 
before your readers, in answer to both Clio and Clay a leaf 
from the confesiion of fsith, of that contemned, derided, depre- 
cated and most ulira of all fanatics, a polilical abolit^.oniat. 

My democratic principles are a constituent and elementary 
part of my religion. Both spring out of the doctrine of the iin* 
mortality of the soul, and consequently my politics are wedded 
in close and exclusive communion with all that sect of religion- 
ists who embrace that doctrine, whether they invoke the "Great 
First Cause" hv the name of "Jehovah, Jove or Lord ;" whether 
they Vv'orship Him in the Church, the Synasrugue, the Mcsque 
or the Pantheon. This doctrine, as heretofore shown, elevates 
man to an infinite height above the beasts that perish, and clothes 
him with functions and attributes essentially God-like; and, if 
not perverted, destined to grow more and more so, by expanding 
and increasing in strength throughout etetni'y. On this doc- 
trine, the democratic principle that man is a co-ordinate being 
to man, is predicated. The powers of one soul, may indeed, 
transcend those of another, but it is only the difference of one 
star from another star in glory. Each is essentially co-equal, 
co-eternal with his fellow. This sublime doctrine was long the 
day dream of Pagan philosophy. It had its birth in the rude de- 
velopements and lofiy aspirations of the soul; in those yearn- 
ings, which the mind did not itself conaprehend, afiei a higher 



28 

g&od than Jhe rye or the ear could reveal to it, but which betrays 
an iDdcsUuclible faith in its ultiraale fruition beyond the grave. 
It was darkly revealed to the rniod of Flato by this shadowy and 
evanescent evidence, but it Avas brought to light in all its gran- 
deur in the volume of revelation. There the wondrous truth is 
unfolded that man is made in the image of God, a little lower 
ihan the angels, a«d is clothed with dominion over all sublunary 
things — that when by transgression he apostatized from his 
divine original, an infinite ransom was not deemed an over- 
equivalent to pay for his redemption. As shown in a former 
number, such a being cannot be chattelized, cannot be bereft of 
that liberty wherewith Christ hath made it free, without com- 
mitting a crime of unspeakable enormity. 

The noontide effulgence which beamed from the cross, dis- 
pelled, therefore, like the morning cloud and the early dew. the 
gigantic sin of slavery. Allhougli deeply rooted in the Roman 
Empire, and firmly established on the throne of the Caesars, its 
utter overthrow and abolition was the speedy achievement of a 
religion proclaiming glad tidings:, and breathing good will to 
men. This was all that the primitive ambassadors of Christ 
taught, this is all that they ought to teach on this subject; but 
parallel to this doctrine, and springing from the same great cen- 
tral truth of the sopl's immortality, it was reserved for Jefferson 
and his illustrious compeers, on the 4lh of July, '76, to disclose 
and proclaim, as a fundamental principle in the philosophy of 
civil governments, "that all men are cieated equal, that ihey 
are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, 
that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; 
that to secure these righ:s, governments are instituted among 
itien, deriving their just powers from the consent of the gov- 
erned;" "and for the support of this declaration," said these 
primeval apostles of democracy, " with a firm reliance on the 
protection of Divine Providence, we pledge to each other our 
lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor." This national vow 
stands recorded in Heaven, and constitutes the original compact 
entered into between the Supreme Ruler of the Universe and 
this nation, and which was fulfilled in a wonderful manner on 
his part by the deliverance vouchsafed us from monarchical 
thraldom and oppression ; but more than threescore revolving 
years have witnessed our continued violation of a vow pledging 
us to support this heaven-approved democracy. 

With the political abolitionist this is not a dead but a living 
faith, which he calls on all who profess, to make manifest by 
their works. The extent of the power of congress over slavery ,as 
claimed by the abolitionists in their constitution, 1 have hereto- 
fore examined, and I believe it is not seriously controverted 
among statesmen and constitutional lawyers. Go-extensir* 



•29 

•writh thisspower, is the responsibility of its: righlecas exercise, 
and the length and breadth and depth cfihe national '^'m ';f 
slavery resting on our consciences, not as men but as citizens, 
not as moial agents, exercising a suayive infiuence, but as elect- 
ors, wielding with our ballots, sovereicn power 3ind- legislature 
dominion over it. Now let us for a mouieot refer to cur statis- 
tics and see how this power has been heretofore and i» now ex- 
ercised. 

Of the thirteen states which formed and adopted the consti- 
tution, six are still slaveholding staves, viz: Delaware, Mary- 
land, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and C^eurgia. 
These states, embracing an aggregate territory of 226,456 square 
miles, v/ere from the beginninsr. S'.overeign. independent, slave- 
holding states, over whose peculiar institutions congress never 
had. or could exercise legislative control, and consequently is nc 
more responsible for their slavery, (and probably less so,) than 
for slavery as it nov/ exists in the island of Cuba. But since 
that lime congress has admitted seven additional slaveijoldiui' 
■^-tates into the Union, viz: Alabama, Mississipjji. Louisiana, 
Kentucky. Tennessee, Missouri, and Arkansas, with an ngcrre- 
gate territory of 352.000 square miles. More than tliree-fif'tb-s, 
therefore, ol all the slaveholding territory in the 26 states, liave 
been made so by congressional enactment. Under what clau'^e 
of the cunstitiuion, Congress derived this power, cannot be 
pointed out, unless it be in a furtherance of some one of the ob- 
jects specified in the preamble, to which the old fashioned at;U 
ultra federalists are so prone to icsort for construc:ive power, 
viz: "to form a more perfect union — establish ^■?^s//re — insure 
domestic tranquility — provide for the common defence — j'ron)Ot{' 
■•he general welfare — or secure the blessings of llberiy to oui- 
telves and our posterity." I do not propose to discuss this con- 
itituiional question. What is done cannot now be undone. It 
!s sufficient for my purpose to state, what no one ditputts, that 
Congess had the constitutional power to abolish slavery in .'ill 
these territories, while they were such, and to refuse their ad- 
mission into the Union as slaveholding states. Such however 
is the promptitude with which Congress grants the.se ii revoca- 
ble slaveholding licenses, that but two ye?.rs ago, Arkansas was 
leceived into the Union wrth a constitution in her hand, forbid- 
ding her own state legislature abolishing slavery in her do- 
'niinions. Florida, with a territory of 55,000 square miles, is 
sibout to obtain of Congress a license probably similar, if asked 
for, on her admission into the Union, 

But this is not aU. That most horrible and revolting of its 
features, the domestic slave trade, exists under the discretionary 
powers of Congress, uncontrolled by any other single power. 
I have no statistics to enable me to sound this evil, apparently 



30 

tts deep as the bottomless pit, but could the federal marshal, who 
is soon to take the census of this nation, set down in one of his 
statistical columns, as the God of the oppressed does in his, the 
hearts broken, the wailings of despondency, the tearful and the 
tearless anguish, the uttered and the unutterable pangs, the ra- 
ring and the mute despair which " points the parting anguish" 
when the family hearth is laid desokte, when the husband and 
wife, the parent and child are forcibly sundered to meet no more, 
by the northern slavemonger in making up his "cargoes of de- 
spair," assorteJ ''to suit purchasers," as he is commissioned by 
the southern and western planter, it would swell into a mountain 
of sin, whose pinnacle .vould rend the clouds, and, if divided 
among the electors of this nation, who, by their united votes, 
commit it, each one would, I doubt not, be burthened with a 
share, equal, on an average, to all the other sins, disconnected 
with slavery, which he had ever committed. In making this es- 
timate, I euage the quantam of sin by the injury inflicted, with- 
out reference to the moiive of its perpetrator. This is the hu- 
man standard by which we all "share and share alike ;" but 
natuialas well as revealed religion, convinces me that the 
Searcher of hearts adopts a very different one — that the south- 
ern slaveholder, horn and bred in the poisonous atmosphere of 
slavery, and imhibing its paralyzing opiates at every pore of hi? 
conscience, will be beaten with much "fewer stripes" than the 
northern abolitionist, who, convinced of its moral turpitude, goes 
8t the appointed day to the ballot box, and deliheralcly, on full 
premeditation, casts his suffrage in support of the accursed 
traffic. 

Political abolitionism is classed with the hcbhies on which 
broken down and unprincipled politicians are seeking to ride 
into power. In this, our cause has been grossly libelled by de- 
• i^ning politicians, and their organ presses at the North, and 
public opinion, both north and south, has been most flagrantly 
abused. Our motives need but to be understood to be respected, 
and our principles, we believe, need but to be candidly examin- 
ed, to be embraced. When thf people see as we see, they will 
net as we act, on this jjreat subject, and the ''office" to which the 
true political abolitionist aspires, is that of conveying truth lo 
their minds, in its native transparency, untinged with prejudice 
and unsuspected of ^inister ambition. 

When we shall succeed in making it the interest of both poli- 
tical parlies to nominate such candidates for office as we can 
conscientiously support, our end will be attained, and our re- 
rtfsponsibdity ibr the political sin of slavery discharged. Our 
other duty lies in a wider field. It is the duty of man to man, 
the influence of mind with mind and of soul with soul. It is an 
influence whose potency is measured by its purity und its trutL 



31 

tte who asccndeth into the sanctuary of his neighbor'^ con- 
science, must go up thither with clean hands and a pure heart. 
Were I a southern slaveholder, I would as soon listen to a drunk- 
ard's eulogy of temperance, a Judas Iscariol's denunciation of 
treachery, or a Pontius Pilate's sermon on Christ crucified, as to 
the labors of a northern abolitionist reluming from the ballot 
box with his fingers gory with the sin of slavery, siriving to 
conviuce me of its abominations, by what he might unblushing- 
ly call "moral suasion," but Avbat I would spurn as impudent 
hypocrisy. Although he should approach me in the attractive 
form of a Clio herself, wiih the honey of Parnassean suasion 
upon her lip>, and the music of heroic numbers upon her tongue, 
I fear I should, in the depth of an unpoetic indignation, so far 
forget the prerogative of her sex, and ihe divinity of the god- 
dess, as to turn upon her and say, in the language of one having- 
authority, " Thou hypociifi', first cast out the beam out of thine 
own eye, and then shah thou see clearly to cast out the mote out 
of thy brother's eye." 



NO* VII. 



'The priost of superstition rideth on an ass— that of f:>.naticism on a ti2:er.*' 

There is as much truth as piquancy in this motto. Supersti- 
tion and fanaticism are both philosophically defined and appro- 
priately symbolized in it. The former has clamis on my com- 
misseraiion, my sympathy, my kindly solicitude, which I cannot 
disregard with impunity. Though a lover of truih T am still a 
child of frailty, and have consequently a fellow finding with 
human infirmity which chides my saiir'c pen. and restrains de- 
rision at innocent erior, however absurd, at honest devotion, 
however blind. But with fanaticism I hold no fellowship. It is 
K hyena which gluts itself not on the dead bodies, but on the liv- 
ing rights of men — it is a j)irate ship in the ocean of human life, 
«nd whether its dark banner exhibit the cross or the crescent, it 
is alike terrible to the humble bark exploring its onward way 
oyer the troubled billows to gain the haven of endless rest. 

The charge of fanaticism is hurled at the abolitionists by Mr. 
Clay and his pro-slavery clansmen, with a malignity which I 
trust it will ever be foreign from my nature to fet-l, and a venom 
beyond my power to reciprocate. Armed with the elements cf 
moral and political philosophy, I have sought to repel their shafts, 
and if, with these simple weapons, truth bid me carry the war 
into Carthage, I obey, less to gratify the exulting vengeance of 
m Scipio, than to subserve the serere and discarded patriotism of 



32 

aCaio; more in grief than in resentment; rsther to rescue the 
victim than to chastise the varapyre. 

Although fanaticism is an evil of Protean forms and shapes, 
yet it is too often imputed in an unmeaning sense, and employed 
as an epithet of unpointed denunciation, merely because it is a 
vice we all asrce so cordially in deprecating and contemning. 
As the candid and sincere votary of truth, however, I taice upon 
myself ihe responsibility of saying, that this vice is exhibited in 
its most baleful type, not as is vociferated with overwhelming 
clamor in abolitionism, but its heterogeneous rabble of opponents. 
In making this charge, I spare no lank or class, but mean to 
comprehend all, from the learned D. D. and L. L. D. down to 
the more excusable, because more innocent materiel employed 
to throw the brick bats to put us down. When I reflect on the 
sources from which these hisrh sounding academic titles ema- 
nate, and Avitness the miseiable sycophancy with which Ameri- 
. can Theology and American Jurisprudence bend to accommo- 
date the peculiar institutions of the South, and the emulation 
among our nortiiern colleges to catch slaveholdlng patronage, I 
feel that I cannot be over grate Tul to Lord Bacon for his element* 
uf inductive philosophy, and to the martyrs of protestant; Chris- 
tianity for giving me the Bible in a vernacular tongue. Unlike 
our opponents, 1 do not jiropose to canvass intents, or to scan 
motives. To do this justly, is the peculiar prerogative of the 
, Searcher of hearts, and it is a species of fanaticism in our oppo- 
nents, which I detest too much to imitate, by impertinently 
rncroaching on the relation which exists between them and 
their God. To his own master each one must stand or fall- 
But of their avowed principles, the tendency of their actions for 
.good or for evil, the palpable incongruities, manifest inconsisten- 
cies and gross absurdities with which their logic and their ethic?. 
are pecuU<:rized by amalgamation with the "peculiar institu- 
tion." I have many uncourtly things to say, and much pain to 
inflict on those whose feeliisgs are inseparably bound up in the 
,.erfors of fanaticism. 

Wiih such as have the Irankness to avow with Mr. Clay that 

"that is property which the law declares to be property, and two 

hundred years of legislation have sanctioned and saiactified 

negro slaves to be property,'' I have but little ink to shed. They 

imitate Christians in worshipping but one God, but he is the 

.l.'ast erect spirit that fell from heaven. The multiplication of 

almighty dollars by immortal souls, composes the ritual of their 

.devotional exercise, and a; the severest test of supreme devo- 

; lion, they, in imitation of the votaiies of a rival, but less insa- 

*>liate divinity of old, cause their sons and their daughters to past 

Hlhrough the lire of slavery, the immolated victims of an avari- 

jcIous Deity. Tht.Mr hosannas rise in ventriloquial melody frora 



33 

she pocket attuned to silver sounds and golden numbers. Whe- 
ther it was Mr. Clay's clear conceptions of this sublime theolo- 
gy which elevated him to the presidential chair of the American 
Colonization Society, I am not sufficiently versed in the mystic 
lore of that national alma mater of philanthropy to deierminc. 
But justice to Mr. Clay requires that I should here admit that 
his creed, as above expressed and expounded, is more consistent, 
systematic, and perfect than any other opposed to abolitionism 
I'have yet met with. Like mine,' it has the beauty of simplicity 
to recommend it. Mr. Clay and 1 agree in detesting a mongrel 
religion, a divided homage of the heart, an amalgamated devo- 
tion. If there be any monsters which receive the universal 
abhorrence of both heaven and earth, it is that spawn ofmiscrea- 
lions which compose the legitimate offspring of the unholy wed- 
lock of Christianity with American slavery. A Christianity 
thus poisoned, sheds visible darkness on. the religion of the 10th 
century and common sense is fast fleeing from it into miscalled 
infidelity, in order to preserve fidelity to her own self-evident 
truths incorporated in our national confession of faith, the dec- 
laration of independence. That such is the religion of that 
peculiar sect of Christians which espouses, defends, winks at, 
apologizes for, or in any manner accommodates itself to Ameri- 
can slavery, as it exists, either in theory or in practice, in bulk or 
in detail, in the abstract or in the concrete, is asserted, main- 
tained andaffiimed. This statement is penned with a delibe- 
ration proportioned to the magnitude of the charge it involves, 
and in language every word of which is carefully weighed in 
the balance of truth, as revealed to the mind of the writer. If it 
inflict pain on any of the numerous, and in other respects worthy 
individuals embraced in it, letitbe remembered that it occasion- 
ed its author much intenser pain in coining reluctantly as he did 
to the belief of its truth. 

I began this article, Mr. Editor, with an intention of indulging 
mv constitutional vem of antipathy to fanaticism, by castigating 
it for mv own diversion and the amusement of your readers ; but 
the subject is too £frave for irony, too painful for derision. I 
cannot fiddle when Rome is burning. I cannot laugh when sla- 
very is winding its horrid coils round the religion of ray country, 
with a grasp more fell than that of the serpent of Laocoon. My 
heart forgets its mirth, and my pen its playfulness, when I see 
the choak damp of slavery, so fai palsyingthe generous impulses 
of Christian love and natural sympathy, that the Americaa 
church surveys with moibid tranquility, and within her owa 
folds, the windows of three millions of human souls sealed up in 
peipetual darkness and exclusion from her own boasted gospel 
light and liberty. Nor is this immense wrong done under the 
i)elief that ignorance is the mother of devotion, I can throw the 



64: 

mantle of my charily in ample folds over that ecclesiastic who 
believes in this discaided dosrmaofa dark age, and with pious 
care keeps back from my mind the words of eternal life, and 
teaches ma to crucify my common sense, that I may follow his 
guidance the more implicitly into the mazes of scholastic mysti- 
cism, when I see that he is inspired by the noble, the sublime 
philanthropy of wafting my soul to heaven in a cloud of darkness. 
He is indeed a fanatic, because he encroaches on my rights. 
He is a benevolent man, but he does not understand the liniits of 
human responsibility. He oversteps the division line which God 
has drawn between his duty and mine. He indeed does me a 
great wrong, but his only error is one which many good but 
overheated minds may slide into, by not recognizing the impor- 
tant, but somewhat abstract principle that the end does not jus- 
tify the means, I may admire the fanatic, but I must deprecate 
the fanaticism. 

But when I see a Christian in the 19th centuiy, to whom 
these dogmas of a dark age are but ill remembered like other 
legendary lore, by whom their absurdities are derided with just 
severity, committing the same wiong in a much greater degree, 
not for the benefit of the victim's soul, but that he may appropri- 
ate the mechanical pov/ers of the body in which il is eniaberna- 
cled ; that he may make merchandize of the muscle which God 
has lent that soul as an instrument to serve him with, he exhibits 
the climax of fanaticism, without leaving room to invent a higher 
motive than the grossest mammon worship. To chaitelize the 
man, is not merely to encroach on his rights, but it is by one fell 
swoop, to annihilate them all. To talk about loving him after 
he is thus transmuted is sinful. The same apostle who enjoins 
on us so fervently the law of love to one another, forbids us loving 
the world or the things which are in ii. Chiistianity, therefore, 
is vitally interested incorrectly settling the question whether the 
slave is in the eye of God a ^/j?;rg which we are forbidden lo love, 
or a man, whom we are required to love as ourselves, and with 
whom both natural and revealed religion enjoin us to recipro- 
cate the moral duties of the golden rule. 



NO. VIII. 

In my la?t essay, I began with pointing out the relationship 
which abolitionism bears to fanaticism, and was thence drawn 
into a train of reflections exposing the cis-Atlantic heresy cf 
attempting to reconcile Christianity with American slavery. 1 
did this under the consciousness that the views expressed would 
be condemned as ultra and ovei severe by the great mass of my 



fellow citizens of all religious peisuasions, and accustomed as I 
am to think and act- with the many, and to find in their honest 
and sober convictions an enlightened public opinion which has 
heretofore cot'responded substantially with my own, it cost me 
not only many misgivings of judgment, but some reluctance of 
feeling (though constrained by the clear and irresistible convic- 
tions of nuth.) to renounce so popular an error, and expose ob- 
noxious heresies; which, till recently, I have, in common with 
others, entertained on this momentous question. To prevent 
misconslruction, therefore, let those who esteem my remarks 
harsh, and unseasoned with chr.iity, remember that they are 
directed against principles and doctrines, v;hich the writer, till 
recenily, eniertained with r,s little co:j5cioi.:sness of impure mo- 
tive, as lie row feels in exposing thtir absurdilii-s. The only 
sin on this subject which he considers himself guilty of having 
committed, and of which he is now striving to bring forth fruit 
meet for repentance, 13 that of letting slip from iiis memory the 
old horn-book proverb — "He who cannot reason is a ^ool ; he 
who dare not reason is a slave; he who will not reason is a 
bigot." 

VVi.th t!iis explanation, I hope to be indulged in speakins^ my 
Complaints freely and fully on the present state of public opin- 
ion, not >o tii'JcL among thbsc wiio justify slavery, as those who 
adopt (he sentiment more fashionable this side of Mason and 
Dixon's line, but less consistent, of opposing slavery in ibe ab- 
stract, and apologizing for its present e:-:istence as a necessary 
evil, to be p-'peni!';! of, perhaps, by this gcneraiion, but not to be 
forsaken (if at ail) fur two or tliree generntions to come — who 
trust to tbe siient and benign influence of Christianity, Avhich 
(say tliey) i> no v at u'ork upon it, and is srradually, and sis it 
were by stealth, mitigatinrx its evils, and vv'ill ultimately accom- 
plish its own perfect work i)y dissolving the chains of slavery — 
that in order to flfi-ct this, Christianitv and slavery must be al- 
lowed to coniniinirie their induences in harmony and reciprocal 
good feeling, undisturbed by the evil genius of northern aboliiioQ- 
ism — that sl.iV'.-ry is one of the political institutions of ihe coun- 
try, and con'-^fquently to interfere with it in anv other way than 
by tliese indirect influences, would be making Christianitv a po- 
litical, or church and state religion — that notwithstanding all 
that is said to tin- contrary, the slaves are happy and contented 
in their sphere, and under all the circumstances it is impossible 
to malie them more so by emancipation. These are the most 
popular and effieient, and apparently the most Christian argu- 
ments u?ed against anti-slavery action, that I have been able to 
collect, and to them I propose devoting the much loo nariovr 
limits of this essay in soberly examininjr. 

Conceding, as these several classes of objectors do, that slave- 



36 

ry is sinful, they seem to forget that the proper time to repent 
of that, and all other sins, is to-day, and the proper time to for- 
sake it, is simultaneous with such repentance. Slavery is, in- 
deed, a peculiar institution, and a complicated sm ; but there is 
nothing either peculiar or complicated in the mode of forsaking 
it when sincerely repented of. The moral government of God 
is so regulated that he never has occasion to caution a lepenling 
sinner not to derange it by forsaking sin too suddenly. The sia 
of slavery is forsaken by doing as Avas done in Antigua and Ber- 
muda — give back to the slave immediately his usurped rights, 
and restore him to his denied manhood. If you think (what 
experience proves to be fallacious,) that in consequence of his 
being born and bred in bereavement of those rights, he cannot 
at first use them discreetly, teach him how to use them. It is a 
task which angels mi2:ht covet to share in, and Avould be more 
grateful to a truly philanthropic mind than that of teaching the 
laws of vision to a man born blind, vv'ho had been newly couched 
for a cataract. The idea of holding a man in slavery for his 
own good, in order to prepare him for freedom, is running coun- 
ter to the Protestant maxim already commented on, that the end 
does not justify the means. Both cc.nmon sense and Chris- 
tianity, therefore, agree in the theory that restitution of usurped 
lights should he the^ first step towards forsaking the sin of slavery, 
and if these high and concurrent authorities need the practical 
corroboration of human experience, it is to be found in the glo- 
rious experiment ofBtitish West Indian emancipation, which 
is not only a living, and blazing, and much needed proof to this 
nation that righteousness is profitable to all things, but also illus- 
trates, with singular aptitude, the position here coritended for, 
by showing the advantages of immediate emancipation over the 
apprenticeship system. 

What hope have we that the kind of Christianity we have 
heretofore had in oui country will eradicate slavery? When 
primitive Christianity and Roman slavery came in contact, they 
were as alien to each other in origin as in nature. The demon 
of slavery had then just achieved his triumph over Roman vir- 
tue, Roman patriotism and Roman liberty, but be never quailed, 
be never felt how awful virtue is, till assailed by the sword of 
the Spirit, as wielded by the primitive champions of the cross. 
But American slavery is'a bantlino- of pur own leligion ; it was 
born and bred, ciadl'ed and nurtured, in the bosom of our own 
boasted protestant orthodoxy, and from recent intelligence, it 
may well be doubted, that if weaned from the American church 
and colonized in Mahometan Egypt, it would not have occasion 
to complain of the very 7mc/tr?s/?a??. and barbarous inhospitali- 
lies it would receive from the Grand Pacha and his despotic 
•diets. To suppose, therefore, that the church has marked out 



37 

her own overgrown nursling as a victim of a wasting consump- 
tion, which has been preyinfj upon its vitals these sixty years 
past, is no more ridiculous tnan it is absuid, to any one who casts 
a glance at the statistics of American slaveiy, and at the increas- 
iiig indulgence and suavity with which it is treated by the Ame- 
rican churcii. . 

But a more serious, because more popular delusion on this 
subject, is the biliet' that the church has no jurisdiction over 
slavery, because it is a j)olilical institution, and cannot therefore 
be disluibed wi'.hout meddling with politics. No one would 
deprecate more than myself, the interiVrence of clerical influ- 
ence in promoting or deftaling an independent treasury bill, a 
Ueposite law, a national bank, or larifi'law, or any other measure 
purely poliiical in its character, however important. But while 
the ambassador of Ciirisl keeps aloof from, and soars above all 
these questions of secular excitement, and remembers that his 
Master's kingdom is not of this world, he should also remember 
that the jurisdiG'iioa of that kingdom is cc-c-xtensive with moral 
evil, and laki-s cognizance of human depravity in all its fgrmsj 
that sin has no sanctuary of refuge behind the throne of political 
power, nor can the sword of the Spirit be arrested, or the Word 
.of the Lord return void, hecause it (iads iniquity protected by a 
human statute. I am opposed to an alliance of church at:id state, 
not so much because I fear a tax may be levied on my property to 
support a religious sect with whom I do not worship, as to pre- 
serve the ambassador of Christ free from the temptations and 
snares of secular influence, that he may stand forth in a disunity 
and independence befiiting his embassy, and not shun to declare, 
without secular feai, favor or hope of rev.-ard, all the counsel of 
God to a sinful v/orld. But when I hear the clerical cant, now 
growingso fashionable, of baptizing a slave code or anv other mu- 
nicipal law of this republican country by the name of an ''ordi- 
nance of God," I think tho3eReverend gentlemen who would do 
so, should spend a winter in Albany or Washington, under the 
tuition of their parishioners ai' the lobby, and witness the log- 
rolling, team-hitjhing, and all the other machinery and appliances 
by which these ''oiditiances" are concocted, planned and matured 
in the shape of bank bills, raili'oad charters, canal and other ap- 
propriations. When Nero was empeior and Paul a prisoner ex- 
horting the church at Pvome to yield obedience to the powers that 
be, he might with propriety speak of the decrees of that antt- 
christian tyrant, as tlie ordinances of God, and with equal proprie- 
ty may the poor American slave, with his face ground in the 
earth, in the exercise of the same Christian meekness and resig- 
nation, speak of the iron, anti-human statute under which he is 
oppressed, especially when he sees his supposed petition to Con- 
gress for relief, throw that body into a paroxysm of rage. But 



38 

when a Christian people are the law-makers, and a Christian 
ministry has the guidance of their conscience, to hear those mi- 
nisters talk about the most diabolical code of laws that ever dis- 
graced human legi?htionj as an ordinance of God, is, to speak 
with all possible clelicacy, a glaring absurdity. If. instead of do- 
ing ?o, they were to come oui boldly, and in the spirit and power 
of the gospel, denounce this hydra sin, I doubt not but that the 
influence of Christianity over the conscience of this nation, is 
adequate to efToct its immediate overthrow and abolition. The 
doctrine that slavery is sinfui, is peculiarly popular, and easily 
proved to a r^'puhlican citizen. lu fact, it is so generally believ- 
ed, although not preached, that the contrary doctrine, when 
tauglit by some of our clergyir.en, is not believed by one in a 
hundred of n disinterested American congregation. The great 
fault lies with the clergy in preserving either a mysterious nour- 
committaiisrri about the sinfulness of slavery, or conceding it to 
be sinlul, they preserve a still less excusable silence on iis hein- 
iousiii'ss and the necessiry of forsaking it. The consequence of 
this negk'ct is seen in tiie v.igue, sojihisticdl and vascillating 
state of pu!)'.ic opinion in every thing appertaining to slavery, 
and tlie ridiculous quandary into v/.hich a large majority of those 
who intend to be conscientious are tiuown, whenever the ethics 
of the bfjve code come in conflict with those of Christianity. 

To refute the posit^ion that slaves are happv, and that their 
happiness would not be augmented be restoring to them the 
rig.iti given them by their Creator, would result in a question 
involving the exisleace of original stamina of mind itself, and 
con iLqjently can only bj determined by the disputant's own 
conscioLisnvsi;. if lit- has such consciousness no higher evidence 
can be furr.is'ifd him ; if he has it not, an attempt to prove its 
existence i;i o;hers, would be like discoursing to a man born 
blind on the bi-autiL's of tlie rainbow. So thick a drop serene 
has quenched the visual orbs of his mind, thai a deeper, a more 
lendt.-r sympatliy.is due lo his bereavem.ent than is drawn out by 
the 'ulind b.irJ in describing lii; own sightless eyelraih rolling in 
vail; I J / .' !: i'.) ; ; Lina! .1 beams of holy light. He 

who (■ , ! ;;;. 1 1 a J ilr.' V.\'j\.. ' i- morbid laugli, or dance, or 

som, oj' .1 !i;.!i:;,in spirit; brjki'n (io'.v:i ;Tnd scallii-d by slavery's 
d.ir:;:i..^? :ri;J (•:v:i;ii^, \o: h.ip;»ine?^ :ind contentment, would 
in\i\'i ' Ki-' sicli'ly gliiter oftlie sun-dog, for the vivid beams of 
t'li; L ji.l ol' (.A\ ; iij v/ouh! mistake the ccstacy of a maniac dan- 
cing in his ciiains, for that peace of Gjd which passeth all un- 
derstanding. 



NO. IX. 

The leading design of ihis review is to indicate unpopular 
truth irom the mystifications with v/hich its very axioms are 
sought to be impeached by the expediency politicians and casu- 
ists of the day. I have heretofore attempted to reason with 
those who reason, m answering the manifold objections made to 
anti-slavery action, which are grouped together with much in- 
genuity and spread out with the characteristic franliness and 
fearlessness of their author in the able and eloquent speech 
under review. Holding, as I am more than ever convinced I 
do, the vantage ground of truth in the momentous question in 
controversy, I have found my lask an easy one, and to me, as 
interesting as easy. And for the purpose of enabling those who 
differ from me to assail my positions wiih facility, 1 have felt it 
due to the cause of truth, to which my pen is professedly con- 
secrated, to study a clearness, simplicity and arilessnetis of style 
■ worthy of the gigantic principles examined, the magnitude of 
interests involved, and ilie Inighty issue for time and for eternity, 
conceived to divide at every point the principles, doctrmes and 
measures of slavery and of anti-slavery. 

Believing, as 1 do, that truth is essentially co-otcrnal wi\h its 
infinite Source, and isthetigjUt arm of Omnipotent power in the 
government of the rational universe, and that error, liowever 
specious, and delusion, however gaudy, are but the bubbles 
which dance Ou the great tide of human lile for the moment, :'nd 
straightway return tJ their native nonentity : helievinL^ too, that 
the most meritorious service wo can render our country, and the 
most acceplible to our GjJ, i, the practical advancement of a 
g;eat political and moral trulh—I did hop? that sovne one of its 
votaries, covetous of the rich reward which I can assure them 
springs from so delightful a task, would, ere ihi.?, have sought 
occasion to correct some oae of the many positions deemed erro- 
neous whicn I have taliea in I'le course of this review. But I 
would aslv those [jrofesoed republicans of the .Itilerspninnschoo), 
•who mouth his uinxim that '-truth is migbtv and will prevail," 
when will that rni^hl be made manifest? "when will that preva- 
lency be all:»iaed .2 II, like them, this discussion produces no 
other emotion than disgust, and generates in their mincis no 
other iJea than fher express by the iDord{l) '•sliiiis'ij." Among 
these pretended disciples of that great expounder of the ri^fhi.s 
of man, the very thought of a discussion of those righis-^lhe 
very sight of an anti-slavery document suddenly brimrs' on a re- 
vulsive shuddernot unlike hydrophobial rage; and the unhappy 



40 

victim, though otherwise every thing that is amiable and kind^ 
is suddenly transformed into a fury, when the limpid streams of 
anti- slavery truth are brought to sparkle in his vision. 

As Mr. Clay has occupied the whole field of both argument 
and declamation, and nothing new or essentially different is 
presented by the Reverend alamnus of Princeton college, 
whose address the readers of the Commercial Herald are invited 
lo peruse again and again, in answer to my arguments, I shall 
not be required to digress from my text in the notice 1 am called 
on to take of the high wrought and strong appeal he has made 
to abolitionists to desist frorh further action. The single idea 
whicii constitutes the nucleus of both Mr. Cl?y's and Mr. Mc- 
Dowall's eloquence is, that abolitionists must abandon their mea- 
sures, because the slaves, when freed, ivill rise up and wage a 
war of extermination not only against their former masters, but 
ultimately against us at the north also. Conceding the indispu- 
table point, that slavery is amoral evil, their appeal is based oa 
iheir fears that the path of duty is not the path of safety 3 that an 
undisturbed continuance in sin, is the only mode of escaping, 
the punishment due to that sin ; that although the enslavement 
of a human being is a great violation of the golden rule of duty 
from man to man, the very consciousness thai it is such, is made 
the foundation of an argument to persevere in it, inasmui-h as 
it is feared that the oppressed will, when released, seek to 
avenge his wrongs against his oppressor. Such is the logic 
used by a great statesman in addressing the Senate of the United 
States; such are the ethics employed by an able Doctor of Di- 
vmity in addressing? an assembly of brother Divines of the 
Princeton school. The chivalrous Kentuckian did not tremble 
when standing before the muzzle ot John Randolph's duelling 
pi-stoi, but his kaees smite each other in contemplating the ter- 
rible consequences of becoming viituous. The Princeton Doc- 
tor' ofDivinily, in his much learning, has discovered that the fear 
of doingjustice and of loving mercy is the beginning of wisdom. 
Both have drank deep draughts of the tragic muse's inspiration, 
and have labored powerfully to draw pro-slavery tears from anti- 
slavery eyes, indepictinsr the horrors of negro cut-throating, car- 
nage and devastation which would follow hisimmediateemanci- 
pation, as the first return of gratitude he would render for his 
restored manhood. To refute this position in the minds of those 
who would not deride it, I am quite sensible it would be in vain 
to prove that by the constitution of the human heart, it is not in 
man, (monsters of course excepted,) to smite iVe hand that feeds 
him, or to thirst for the blood of his deliverer — that it would also 
be in vain to remind therr, that there is a God who still takes 
some little cognizance of the affairs of men, and that he deligkta 
ia virtue. These old fashioned truisms, I would be told, are 



41 

very fine in the abstract, and compose an interesting and pretty 
Sundy School lesson for children ; but wise Senators and learn- 
ed Doctors of American Theology, are taught to contemn their 
simplicity, and to take prudenlial lessons from the more complex 
science (fulsely so calltd)of practical expediency, inwhich school 
the fidgeting spirit oicircumstance is ihe oracle of the hour, the 
expounder of a chamelion morality, the Doctor of a topical Divi- 
nity. In order, therefore, to ansv/er these orators and their po- 
litical and religious disciples, it is of little seivice to deal in v.'tiat 
Mr. Clay calls the "sublime abstractions." I will therefore, 
have to descend from anti-slavery faith to anti-slavery works, 
from the evidence ofthings not seen to those that are seen, with 
a view of ascertaining what lion is in the way so terrible to those 
who walk by sight on this subject. 

If there is anything that looks like ultraisra in]abolilion move- 
ments, it is in the untiring perseverance and avidity v.'ilh which 
they seek after facts and statistics touching the subject of slave- 
ly. It has accordingly been a standing challenge of the anti- 
slavery society, to show a single instance in which a freed Afri- 
can slave has attempted the lile of his former master; and not- 
withstanding the empty rant of pro-slavery politicians and 
•divines, none of them have yet ventured to take up the gauntlet. 
If these dignitaries in church and state would condescend to look 
into an anti-slavety library, and examine the history of abolition- 
ism for the 19th century, iliey would find such statistics as the 
following stating them in the face, in which not a diop of blood 
was spill : 

On the 10th of October, ISll, the Congress of Chili decreed 
that every child born after that day should be free. 

On the 9ih of April, 1S12 the government of Buenos Ayres 
ordered that every child born after January 15, 1S13, should be 
free. 

On the 19th of July, 1S21, the Congress of Colombia passed 
an act emancipating all slaves v/ho had borne arms in favor of 
the Republic, and providing for the emancipation in IS years, of 
the whole slave population, consisting of 230,000 souls. 

On the 15lh of September, 1821, the government of Mexico 
granted instantaneous and unconditional emancipation to every 
slave. 

On the 4th of July. 1827, the state of New York emancipated 
10,000 slaves. 

On the 1st of August, 183i, the British Parliament eman- 
cipated, by immediate liberation and apprenticeship, 780,993 
slaves in their West India Islands, in which the aggregate num- 
ber of white population was only 129,108, or less than one white 
inhabitant to six liberated slaves. In Antigua and Beimudas, 
the liberation was instantaneous, and in the former island there 



42 

were 29,537 liberated slaves lo 1,980 while inhabitants, or about 
fifteen lo one. 

One word on what is denounced by this Princeton divine as a 
"pragmatical" interference with slavery by northern abolition- 
ists, and I close this number. Mr. Clay and liis political and 
clerical allies, are incessantly telling us that southern slavery is 
no concern of ours. 1 have herflofure explained to what extent 
slavery is directly and politically ours, for good and for evil, aa 
citizens or electors, by pointing out the extent of the constitu- 
tional power of Congress ovei it, but the voice of nature loudly 
proclaims to us as men, thai this is but the beginning of our 
responsibility — that all the members of the human family are 
bound to each other by a thousand ligaments, which no political 
power, however desnolic. can sever— thai no one, though he be 
the least of those little ones for whom Chiisi died, can be ih.rust 
down fiom his exalted birthright tf personiility, and graded with 
caiile in the stall, or mcrcbundize in the warcroom. without 
wounding the deepest sympathies of our common nature, and 
drawing forth an acclan;atiun from every unsophi.-ticated heart, 
that thii destroyer has come, the encampment of humanity has 
been violated, "and high trrason has been committed against the 
commonwealth of man. But when, not one. but three millions 
of our race are thus detruded, when the tattle trade is rot only 
introduced into the human family, but our own countrymen are 
bartered, leai-ed, morigiiged, bequeathed, branded with initials, 
invoi<:ed. shi;'.pet! in ciirgoes, stored as goods, taken in execii- 
tion, knocked uil'uiidi.'r the ouctionei'r'.-s hammer — when all this 
is done, not only aip.onu^ our counti\ nu ii, but in the bosom of 
our own churdi, ar.tl on^- Clirisiiim siiows liis hroiherly -iove, the 
evidence of hi > disciph'shij), by driving to the human llesh mar- 
ket, a cofflj u!" W'.s bii'threii dearly beloved in the Lord, and alter 
receiving l;>e pieces of silver in exchange for their souls and 
boJie?, he m:u!irrst> hi-- gratitude to God ior sending high prices 
and a ^Mi-^k market, hv liiiiing, a.s was lately done, the i)rice of a 
man, and casting Q50 into tlie I^.lissionnry box. to spread the 
gospel of ,•; 'a'/;. i^ouJ will to men in heathen lands, to heaiiliiy the 
Pagan hi.li; wiili t:;e leei of them who hear .s7^-(7i --sweet iidiiigs," 
and b:iiiL: ^/;;'/;. '>;;!v.,;iuM on their lonirue-.-' When all these 
acts are done in t'le n s'-e oT l!!)e!!y and tt li-ion under the sanc- 
tion of ciiu'.ch and stale, heneath the hallowed en.-iirns of the 
cross. anJ thi^ star spaniivd !)anner. aholitionists think raid feel 
that as men, as patriots, as Christians, tiuy h.ave much to do. in 
this matter— that they must tell this teacher in Ameriean Isiael, 
exalted as he siancis' as a watchman upon the battlements of 
Zion, that notwiihstanding tlie severity of his deuLnciations, 
and the hig'i and holy place from which they are iulminaled, 
we nnust be indulged in what he considers a ''pragmatical"' spirit 



43 

on this subject. And although we may not be permitted to de- 
secrate a Christian temple with this spirit, we need not profane 
his Bible with seeking a justification for it, but we will lake our 
stand on the broad pla'form of humanity, and in the one sanctu- 
ary which ihe God of nature has spread over our heads, we will 
vindicate this pragmatical spirit, by thai elder inspiration which 
He has revea.ed to our every heart, and which an ancient Doc- 
tor of this truly Catliolic Divinity, though a despised African 
slave, thus expounds in the pure orthodoxy of nature, that may 
well mantle with a burning blush the professors of our peculiari- 
zed Theology. '"lani a man," says this heathen phihTntiiropist, 
'•and nothing relating to man can be foreign from my bo- 

cnm '"'^ 



som. 



NO. X. 

Mr. Eon or: 

Having canvassed such of the topics and positions contained 
in Mr. Clay.'s si^eech as seem relevant to the moral and political 
questions growinji out of the toleration of American slavery, I 
leel that it is unnecessary, and perhaps inexpedient, to avail of 
your indulgence in theluriher pursuit of an almost inexhausti- 
ble subject. In the event of any of your readers (jueslionmg the 
correctness of the view 1 have taken of it, (which they are cor- 
dially invited to do.) I may have occasic^n to resume my pen in 
ihe way of reply ; but with the fevv' supplementary renusrks here 
made, I lay it aside for the present, and ttnaer you my sincere 
thanks for the generous and liberal kindness extended me in the 
use of your columns. It is with Philalethean sincerity, Mr. 
Editor, that I assure ycu I njean no comm.on ] lace civility, and 
am under no ordinary emotions in doing so. 

Whf-n I consider the treatment receired by the scattered and 
faithful few who assumed the perilous responsibility of opening 
their mouth for the dumb, and of daring to sympathise with the 
inillionsuf my enslaved countrymen and fcdlou' Christians— when 
Ivv'it!ii'S5 tlie strength and the fiercencoS of the pro-slavery spirit 
amon::-t u^ in the shape of seciarran conservatism, i:i religion 
as W( 11 as in politics — when I see abolitionists driven from our 
churches, and the very announcement of their meeting, ficm our 
pulpits, made the signal of brute outrage — when their own tem- 
ple, will) the motto '"Virtue, Liberty, and Independei:c»'," erect- 
ed too, in the same city from Vvhich thi- Declaration of Indepen- 
dence emanated, laid in ashes — when I sec their petition'--, inter- 
ceding for the rights of man, spurned from the throne of consti- 

* ''Ilor-^.o sum, ct hu:t:ani a i:ic nilalicuuni puLo."— Trr.nxc-. 



44 

tutional power — when I am lold, as I have lately been,, by a 
much venerated Doctor of Divinity, the conductor of a religious 
paper, that the subject of American slavery was extraneous to 
Christianity, and loreign to the one ^"^ evangelical faith," to the 
advancement of which, ''in Apostolic order," his press was ex- 
clusively devoted, and that consequently it was not meet for me 
to commune through the columns of his paper, with brethren of 
our own Zion touching the question, whether as such, we had" 
auy duties to discharge respecting slavery — under ail these and 
numerous siiuilar circumstances, too notorious to need naming, 
I feel it to be almost a peculinr prerogative, instead of a common 
birlhiight, to enjoy the use of an unshackled press, and to be 
allowed the exercise of that liberty ^vherewilh Christ hath made 
us free, in whispering a word of truth, and breathing a sigh of 
commisseration, through the columns of a secular papeij in be- 
half of down-trodden and crucified humanity. 

It will be seen that in the course of this review, my design has 
been merely to s'iow that American slavery was intrinsically and 
radically anti-chrislian and anti-repuhlican, and to answer the 
various objections, vacillating and fugitive as they aie, raised 
against the use of all our political and moral power ibr its imme- 
diate abandonment and abolition. How great an evil it is, I 
have not been called on to describe, nor has this review led me 
to notice its abuses. My attention has been confined to its sim- 
ple theory as defined by its own code or system of laws. All I 
have said relates to the machine itself, and is believed to be true 
whether that machine is moved by the hand of a How^ard or a 
Caligula, whether its devoted victims are underfed or overfed, 
underworked or overworked, underlio^ged or overflogged. It is 
the contemplation of its acknov/ledged principles, as composing 
a poriion of our national republicanism, and as the stock into 
which the vine of American Chiislianity is sought to be engraft- 
ed, that prompts me to become an abolitionist. If an impartial 
and careful examination of those principles will not be sufficient 
to satisfy others that it is their duty as men, as patriots and as 
Christians, to take the same course, let them read and criticise 
on '-'American Slavery as it is, or the testimony of a thousand 
witnesses "composed chicflv of the admissions of slaveholders 
themselves, scrupulously authenticated, disclosing the hitherto 
but imperfectly revealed horrors of the prison house, in an aspect 
that would pain the ear and sicken the soul of a Turk, and might 
well move the latent philanthropy of an Algerinc to send _a mis- 
sionary of his faith to our shores to teach us the meaning of 
'•peace on earth and good will to men." 

It may be said as truly of me, as of many others that have 
written in behalf of the enslaved, that harsh and offensive epi- 
thets are employed, and an apology may be expected before lay- 



45 

ing down my pen for doing so. This objection is made, not onlf 
by the slavehoMer and his apologist, but by the warv non-cora- 
mittalist and the polished non-pragraaticai aboliiionisi, whose 
labors against slavery begin and end in drawing-room sentiment- 
alism. Xet these and all other neutral powers in this warfare^^ 
remember that, unlike our opponents, we renounce tbe use oi 
carnal weapons. We are not attacking men, but th' ir princi- 
ples ; not motives, but doctrmes; not judging hearts, but recti- 
fying consciences. Let them also remember that the ethi'.is of 
the abolitionist and of the slaveholder are, in their nature, intrin- 
sically and inflexibly opposed to each other at every point, so 
much" so, that we can conscientiously agree in but one thing, 
and that is, to treat a mediator as n common enemy. I will 
illustrate my views on this point by an example. It will be re- 
membered by your readers, Mr. Editor, that I was charged wiih 
committing a crime which would be esteemed by the slaveholder 
"morally corrupt as stealing," in facilitating a fugiiive slave in 
his passage from this port to dueen Victoria's dominions. The 
epithet of stealing, though perhaps not technically conect, would 
certainly not be without point, if it had been a runaway horse I 
had been iiVsirumenlal in conveying beyond his ownei's reach, 
and I should certainly earn the pity of universal contempt, ii I 
were to take exceptions to the propiiety of the epithet, and in- 
voke public sympalliy because my injured neighbor did not 
"pinch the miserable plaits of his phraseology" into a more 
courtly style in defining the v/rong I had done him. I must_ there- 
fore be content to be put dov/n in his ethical code as a thief, for 
such acts as these, and he does my memory no injustice, nor 
can I esteem it an unfriendly office, if he engraves the iheft on 
my tombstone when I am dead. But the same act which his 
religion tea-ches him to shudder at with pious horror as a felony, 
mine plumes with the heaven-descended, the seraphic name of 
Mercy. In every particular but one, our ethical principles are 
alike. The single point on which we split so widely in charac- 
terizing the transaction, is the question of title. He believes that 
his slave is unmanned and embruted by virtue of a human stature, 
or as Mr. Clay expresses it, "that is propeity which the law de- 
clares to be property, and two hundred years of legislation have 
sanctioned and sanctified negto slaves to be pioperty." I be- 
lieve that man holds title to himself by the gift of his Creator. 
Dol mediately but immediately — not as a sub-tenant, but as ten- 
ant in chief — not by virtue of a deed of manumission under the 
sign manual of his fellow being, which he must carry in his 
pocket, but by virtue of the letters patent of the Almighty, the 
broad seal of which, bearing the image and superscription of it<» 
Divine original, is enstamped on his mind, and illumes his coun- 
tenance with an inherent authenticity, which the despoiling 



46 

hand of slavery itself cannot wholly extinguish. Nor is this 
heaven-descended chait bereft of its validity, because the pat- 
entee happens to diaw his natal aii under the shadow of the 
star-spangled banner, rather than in an African Kroai. What- 
ever difference an Anieiican congress may in its protective ta- 
riff Vv'isdom have discovered between the foreign and domestic 
slave trade, the one is piracy equally with the other, in the cri- 
minal code of Heaven, and the infant soul that i^ nailed to the 
cross of slavery at its birth, cries in thunder tones to heaven, that 
some other reason be rendered for its enslavement, than that the 
baleful star of its nativity threw it into the fangs ol one who 
was signed with the sign of the cross at an American baptismal 
fou n f . 

But suppose we turn the tables and apply our creeds to his 
conduct. His moral sense and mine agree in recognizing as 
correct the definition of theft laid down in our law Looks, viz: 
taking what belongs to another without iiis consent, and con- 
verting it to our own use i'oi the s^.ke of gain. If the slavehold- 
er's creed is corr'^ct en the question of ownership, he is above 
reproach, and to vindicate his conduct before God and man, he 
need but stand up boldly, in the consciousness of his rectitude 
of heart, and render his strong reasons in vindication of his 
creed, to the dismay and confusion of us fan?;iics of the North. 
If our cree<l be correct — if it is not a mere figure of speech, a 
mere "theoretical flourish" for a human being to say. 7ny hands 
and viy feet, mij head and my heart, my body and my soul, then 
the slaveholder stands confessed a man stealer. ''How much 
better," a«k> the Saviour of our race, in irptiiendous eti^.phasis, 
*'how much better is a man than a sheep?" When that ques- 
tion is answered, I can teil the haughty and chivalrous slave- 
holder, to whofM northern patriotism and norihern piety bend so 
obsequiously, how much jnore abominahle, in the etiquette of 
the sanctuary, is the man thi^fthan the sheep thief. 

But it is urged that it is ruinous to our cause, and highly inex- 
pedient to press such severe truths, (if truihs they are,) inas- 
much as it oiilv exasperates the slaveholder, and induces him to 
wreak hi i vengeance on his victim, bv augmenting his suffer- 
ings. To this v.-^rv popular objection, we reply that we have no 
evidence tliai such is the effect of our mea^mes, hut much to the 
contrary ; norcMnwe believe. such an absurdity without evidence. 
This class of objtctors do our opponents great injustice. We 
are not contending with demons, but with men, many of whom 
have both sound heads and honest hearts, and need hut to be 
convinced of iheir duty, to discharge it. Others need but to have 
the unconscious prejudices of a pro-slavery education brushed 
away, and a third cla<!«. like some of our abolitionists, are trim- 
ming between God and mammon, and are ready to forsake the 



47 

admitted sin of slavery when they are indemnified for practisinsf 
so unprofitable a virtue. This last is the most difficult class we 
have to deal with. None are so reprobate, so insane, so regard- 
less of both God and man, as bootlessly to sink themselves into 
a deeper perdition, in both character and conscience, than they 
must all suspect themselves to be, on the slavery question. We 
propose to deal justly with all; to ply our moral axioms and iron 
linked syllo-ysms to the mind and conscienee of the honest 
hearted, and to hold up the others with their deeds to the <;aze 
of the world, and place them in the focus of our anti-slavery lens, 
where we are satisfied tlie burning rays of natural and revealed 
truth will soon "onvince them that they must suirender either 
their viciim or their character. Public opinion is so fast gather- 
ing potency on thi? subject throughout the Christian world, and 
we have such a vast magazine of facts and moral truth, that the 
slave must either be unfettered, or his oppressor's character 
burnt to a crisp and charred to the core, as black as the haled 
skin of hi? viciim. 

One word to the whig? and the democrats, so called, before 
closing. It is for thecrreat cardinal principle which lies at the 
foundation of Jefi'ersonian democracy, which he incorporated in 
the 7;i.'J2-?iacAaA'/a of our liberties, and illustrated m his subse- 
quent life and writings, that we are co^t^>nding. It is fur that 
pearl of great price, whiclj the whigs of '73, m the day which 
tiled min's souls, sol I all that they ha 1 to purchase, that our 
stiife i-. If the mantle as well as the name, of these illu-ttious 
progenitors had fallen on the democrats and whigs of this day, 
they would blush at (he comparatively small contest with which 
they aru agitatine the nation, respecting an Independnnt Treasu- 
ry, a National Bank, or a Land bill, and would strike for their 
country's salvation, and the hopes of our race, bound up in it, by 
vieing with each other in uncompromising hostility to slavery. 
That the days of American slaveiy are numbered, caimot be 
doubted by those who believe that the ear of the Almighty has 
not waxed heavy bv lapse of time, that He cannot, as hitherto, 
hear the cries of suffering iiumanity; or hi? ri^rht arm enfecbUd 
by length of days, that it cannot work out for the oppres'^ed his 
wonted delivetance. This people imagine a vain thing, if they 
expect much longer to assemble on their national birth dav, and 
insult the throne of Eternal Justice, bv raising hyp(;critical hands 
to heaven, in gratitude for their goodly herita:re, witli their heel 
planted on their brother's neck, and three millions of slaves raiss- 
ing, in vain, their supplicating hands to them as high a? their 
chains will permit, and crying, "am I not a man and a brother?'' 
It does not rest with us to say, whether slavery ■^h:ili be perpetua- 
ted or prolonged, but it Joes rest with us to sav, whether its re- 
quiem shall be the jubilant trump of universal lib- riy, at the sound 



48 

of which, our floods will clap their hands, and our hills will be 
joyful together before the Lord; or whether slavery shall go 
down in violence, and sonae such tragedy be enacted in our land 
as is darkly prefigured in the apocalypse, and the wine press of 
God's wrath be trodden against this nation, till blood shall coraft 
out even unto the horse bridles. 

It is predicted by some politicians and their organ presses, 
that abolition is dying away. When that prediction is fulfilled, 
mine is, that the die of this nation is cast forever, and the days 
of its probation accomplished. It will then be in vain for us to 
say, "we have a Washington, a Franklin,^ a Schuyler, a Hamil- 
ton, a Jay or a Jefferson for our fathers." The same God who 
has in the history of our race, so uniformly and so signally made 
bare his arin to rescue the oppressed from thejaws of oppression, 
and who has emblazoned the pages of profane as well as sac»-ed 
history with the great truth, that human libeity is as the apple 
of his eye, will, (if need be,) raise up a greater than Washing- 
ton, a Draver and wiser than his renowned compeers, out of these 
despised slaves. When ihe battle is the Lord's, as it most em- 
phatically will be on that day, this nation knows full well, by 
striking proof, to its joy and triumph, what will be again exhibit- 
ed, to its shame and confusion, that numbers avail nothing. In 
that strife our standard bearers will faint, and the star spangled 
•banner be trodden under foot as a vile thing. The besom of de- 
struction will, in righteous indignation, sweep a pro-slavery 
Christianity from the consecrated soil it pollutes, and the watch- 
word at her temple spates will be "rase it, rase it, even to the 
/oundation thneof." 

PHILALETHES. 



CLERICAL DELINQUENCIES. 



In givinc: the foregoing remarks a wider publicity than was 
originally designed, it is deemed proper to append in a more 
specific shape than was called for by the review of a political 
speech, a few observations on the aspect in which slavery is pre- 
sented to the American Church, oriather the Divinity Schools 
of our country. The most striking and prominent featuie of 
this relation, is in the fact that the great body of the American 
clergy, who agree in letting slavery alone, and in opposing di- 
rectly or indirectly the anti-slavery enterprise, is nearly equally 
divided in numbers, in learning and in influence, on the cardinal 
question whether slavery is in itself sinful or not. That a ques- 
tion of this magnitude should have escaped a critical discussion 
so long, and in a country where its decision would have so prac- 
tical a bearing on the life and conduct of the great body of pro- 
fessing Christians in our country, is certainly very extraordinary , 
On the more technical questions of theological science, such as 
church organization, the mode of administering the litual ordi- 
nances of the church, the ordination of the ministry, together 
with the theory of original sin, the fall of man, the plan of salva- 
tion, &.C., ponderous folios have issued from the press, wire- 
drawn arguments have been ingeniously spun out, much cleri- 
cal acumen has been expended, and nice biblical criticism has 
been lesoiied to. The midnight oil has been consumed in ran- 
sacking the dusty lore of antiquity for collateral evidences, and 
in spelling out the moth-eaten pages of oriental literature for 
helps to prop up or pull down a sectarian dosfma of so little prac- 
tical utility that its belief or disbelief would have no sensible 
effect on the heart or the hand of a Christian in keeping those 
two great commandments on which hang all the law and the 
prophets. But on the question whether God is pleased or dis- 
pleased when he sees one portion of his children enslaving the 
other — whether the code of Christian love and that of American 
slavery are coincident in all their bearingsand ramifications, the 
champions of Christianity havejoined a mighty issue — an issue 
involving a simple and elementary question in moral philosophy. 
hut which, rightly understood, transcends in magnitude and in 
its practical results, for good or for evil, any question ever before 
presented to the human mind, the authenticity of Divine Reve- 
iation hardly excepted. But on the solution of the question, a 
silence, dead and ominous is observed on both sides. Why ii 

4 



50 

this'? Why should the parlies belligerant sleep on their armor 
Vhen so glorious a field is to be lost or won ? Why this spuri- 
ous liberaliiy, which, in Older to join hands in Christian fellow- 
ship, liberates heads and hearts from principles repuiiChant as 
those which sunder them from Turk or Jew 7 Why should so 
living, so working a faitli as the affirmative of this question in- 
volves, be stranjjled in the meshes of denominational conserva- 
tism ? Must the tree of Christian fellowship bloom upon the 
sepulchre of dead T'.ilb ? Must the God of truth be worshipped 
with a per coniage of the heart, from a fear that a torpid repose 
may bedisturbed, or- a sectarian prt.'judice jostled? Surely in 
«uch an issue, silence is delinquency, and compromise disgrace, 
in conducting such a controveisy, the rules of forensic etiquette 
should be, that none be accounted stupid, but those who view 
the question with indifference, and none dishonest but those 
who oppose its discussion. 

Why is this question so ex-citing-? If we look at the fountain 
headof the discordant feelings elicited by its discussion, we find 
on the anti-slavery side of the issue, a single principle claimed 
to be elementary and inexiijiguishable — a principle springing out 
of common and primitive birihrigh's, whose aliment is that in- 
born and uninstructed sympathy which teaches every unsophis- 
ticated heart, without the aid of revelation, that God has made 
of one blood all nations of men — a principle which dignifies its 
possessor with the consciousness, that if there be any attribute 
of G^d whose similitude in man has survived the fall, if there 
be any indwelling spirit in his heart which the apostle foibids U3 
to quench, it is that highest and holiest of living impulses vvhich 
seeks to relieve innocence from suffering, which loves to open 
its mouth for the dumb, and which triumphs in breaking the bands 
of oppression. The active powers of this principle are highly 
contagious and not untruly called incendiary by its opponents. 
Its mode of action, its measures, its means and its end,!;s oigani- 
zed in the anti-slavery enterprise, our opponents have been again- 
and again invited to scrutinize. If a doubt could ever flit across 
th-e mind of an abolitionist that his feet were on the rock of 
truth, it must be scouted forever from his understanding whes^ 
he surveys the shuflTing, time-serving, earth-born and contradic- 
tory character of the arguments employed against him. The 
monster, error, with his many heads and shapeless body, was 
never more distinctly manifested than in the voluminous array 
of warring elements that are enlisted against anti-slavery 
motion. 

I have said that the Doctors of American Divinity are nearly 

equally divided on the question whether slavery is intrinsically 

ainful or not. The line which would divide them, lam sorry lo 

«*ay, is njore geographical thaa.seciarian. On the south side of 



I 



51 

Mason and Dixon's line, ihc opinion is fast assuming a dreadful 
uniformity that slavery is indeed a patriarchal, a heaven-approved 
institution, while on the north side of that line, such belief is yet 
mainly confined to a portion of the Episcopalclergy, and those of 
other denonriinations whobe minds and consciences are moulded 
in the school of Princeton Divinity. In the preceding pages I 
have had occasion to expose that Jesuitism which admits slavery 
to be a moral evil, but denies that the pulpit, which is, o! shoulii 
be, the only source of moral power, ought to assail it — that it is 
a political evil, hut the ballot-box, the only source of political 
power, must not be brought to bear on it. 

It is not my design to pursue in detail, what is called the bible 
argument of the slavery question. That has already been done 
by the much abler pen of Mr. Weld, in the sixth number of the 
Anti-slavery Examiner. To that work I would refer the biblical 
critic for an invincible and triumphant vindica'.ion of the Old 
Testament Scriptures from what common sense must pronounce 
the blasphemous charge of a slavery approving God. It is not 
my province or calling to criticise nicelv the sacred writings. I 
search them wiih the optics of such common sense as God has 
vouchsafed me; butif all their denunciations of fraud, oppres- 
sion, injustice, grinding the face of the poor — if all their injunc- 
tions of honesty, justice, biotherly love, charity, kindness, pity, 
<fcc., were expurgated, and no other doctrine touching the sin of 
slavery than the great head of the church taught as the funda- 
mental principle of his religion, it would be enough. ^^What- 
soever ye would that men should do unto you, do ys 
the same to them, for' this is the law and the prophets.'' This 
text, as I understand it, lays the axe to the root of either Ame- 
rican slavery or common sense. Thtie are two things in il 
which, to my mind, convey high evidence of its superhumaa 
wisdom. One is, that the willing or volition principle of the ra- 
tional mind is clothed with authority to adjudicate between our 
self and our fellow man. This calls into exercise the reasoning 
functions of the judge. The other is that a law, or standard 
principle is given for its guidance, so easy of comprehension 
that the humblest intellect which God ever madt cannot fail 
to perceive it, and the most sordid and depraved selfishness can- 
not effectually darken the mind to the perception of its applica- 
tion. The rule given by which to test the rectitude of the scales 
of justice, and ascertain if the fulcrum by which we suspend 
them is not nearer our neighbor's scale than our own, is simply 
to interchange the weights. If on doing so, the equiponderance 
is still preserved, we may be sure that immutable justice is ren- 
dered. To perform this operation, or to comprehend its theory^ 
requires as little skill in moral, as in physical science. But as 
there are two similar scales in the physical balance, so there ai« 



52 

two independent and inviolable wills, having ca-ordinate powers, 
in the moral. If the subject matter of the negotiation contem- 
plate mutual beneBls, the right to propose, is co-equal with, and 
piedicated upon the correlative light to concur or non-concur in 
such proposal. Ifilbenot a contract involving reciprocal ad- 
vantages, but a mere benefaction, the beneficiary has surely as 
good a right to his option in saying whether he will accept, as the 
supposed benefactor has in saying he will confer. The univer- 
sal law of contracts or conventional diplomacy, rests on the un- 
controlled exercise of the volition principle expressed by the 
word "would," in the golden rule. Without the inviolable exer- 
cise of this principle, the beam of the scales, instead of playing" 
on a pivot, would be fastened in a vice. But slavery, in its 
mildest definition, means involuntary servitude. To suppose, 
therefore, that one man is willing to have his functions of voli- 
tion so effectually supplanted by those of another as to become 
his slave, is to suppose that the immortal soul thirsts for annihi- 
lation, that the will of man has resolved to break its own scep- 
tre, and the mind to abdicate its throne and surrender its empire 
to another. But slavery is even worse than this. It supposes a 
forcible invasion. It supposes the sceptre to be broken, and the 
empire subdued by a hostile arm. The moment a transaction 
between man and man, ceases to be a contract or meeting of 
minds, the common law of all nations, and the common sense 
of all mankind, (the slaveholder and his apologist exqepted.) 
ranks it not only below the standard of God's righteousness, but 
of man's also, and designr.tes it by the technical name of a wiong, 
tort, injury, misfeasance, &c., all of which mean trespass, or 
aggressive injustice, not consequential but intrinsic wrong, in 
itself. If there be any resemblance, therefore, between the 
slaveholder's ethics and the golden rule, (except the brazen im- 
pudence with which he seeks to justify his conduct under it,) 
It is not palpable to my obtuse perceptions. 

The rule is limited by its own terms, to human beings possess- 
ed of mature and sane minds. It does not assume to regulate 
the conduct or moral responsibility of chddren, or idiots, or luna- 
tics, but of "men." Those human bodies which God has sent 
into the world without a human or rational will, and those whom 
he has bereaved of such function by disease, must of course, be 
protected and governed by the will of another. These excep- 
tions, if they are such, but illustrate the reason and moral of 
the rule. On a somewhat similar principle, it is lawful to coerce 
the will of the child, so far as is proper to train it up in the way 
it should go. But even here, in this adolescent empire, such in 
God's jealousy of that rampant lust of dominion which rages in 
the depraved human heart, that He has confided this trust to His 
own appointed guardian, m whose parental bosom thirst of po wet 



53 

is mollified, and attempered by the strongest affection of the hu- 
man heart — an affection by which He beautifully assimilates 
His own love for our race, when He teaches us to call Him "our 
B'athei." When the child is unfortunately bereft of this natu- 
ral guardian, and is consequently llirown into other arms for pro- 
lection, what a deep solicitude has not God exhibited, of the 
abuse of this vicarious power! Not only in His word, but in the 
heart of every man, the very name of orphan is holy, and clus- 
ters around it the best and most active sympathies of the human 
heart. 

If the doctrine assumed by some of our bishops and other 
Doctors of Episcopal Divinity, that slavery is not intrinsically 
sinful, be sound, I have, as a churchman, to lay again the founda- 
tion stone of Christian orthodoxy, and unlearn the alphabet of 
moral science. The very strong prejudices of a sectarian edu~ 
cation against episcopacy, would never have been overcome in 
my mind, had I not seen, or thought I saw, that in her courts 
the God ofNature and the God of Revelation were in an emi- 
nent degree identified and worshipped as one God, in thesimpli- 
city of Truth. I thought I saw, and still think I see, in the har- 
monious operation of the organic laws under which her ministry 
is ordained, cumulative evidence of their apostolic origin. 1 
thought I saw, and still think I see, in her rejection of sectarian 
creeds and categories, invented to measure out an arbitrary or- 
thodoxy to the human mind and conscience, the sure confidence 
she manifested that evangelic faith is most cordially embraced, 
and takes deepest root in the human heart, when left unaided by 
other authority than its own suasive and convincing influence, 
and that the strongest bond of Christian fellowship, by which 
rational and liberated minds can be drawn together, and a uni- 
versal congeniality of religious sentiment attained and perpetua- 
ted, was in ilie adoption ofa Catholic liturgical service, concen- 
trating, as ours is universally admitted to^do, the pure and radi- 
cal truths of insjiiration. I' have heretofore indulged, and still 
indulge the fond hope, that as philosophy becomes more complete- 
ly identified wiih Christianity, she will return, wearied and 
tempest tossed, from the conflicts and schisms incidental to the 
letiiering of independent minds, to a sectarian creed; and will 
ultimately find a welcome haven, as tranquil as it is free— a faith 
as evangelical as it is Catholic, in the bosom of our universal 
church. That with a feast of reason and aflov/of soul, philoso- 
phy and religion will yet be united in holy wedlock at her altars 
—that mercy and truth will yet meet, and walk together about 
our Zion, and go round about her, till the towers thereof, mark 
well her bulwarks, consider her palaces, that they may tell it to 
the generation following. But how must such hopes be deferred, 
when systematic oppression is seen shielded by those lowers?— 



54 

when slavery, that fell demon, that scouted misanthrope, is seet^ 
quietly entrenching its haggard ibim behind those bulwarks, and 
tfnding a welcome sanctuary in those palaces from the world's 
scorn and detestation? — when consecialed prtlaies are seen 
doffing theii mitres at the demon's approach, and, in the name 
of Christ and His Church, raising against its puisuers the war 
cry oi '"fanaticism,''^ and thereby, in effect, saying lo the South- 
ern MoJoch, "Sit thou at my right hand, till I make thine enemies 
ihy footstool !" 

Much is said, and rightly said, among churchmen, about the 
necessity of seeking out the old paths, and of looking with a 
scrupulous jealousy on new measures. ne\v lights, &,c. I believe 
it will not be a very antiquarian research to trace out the origin 
of that article of Episcopal faith which reconciles Christianity 
to slavery. I need not go back to those palmy days of liie church 
which ininiediately succeeded the apostolic age, when the aboli- 
tion of slavery went hand in hand with the reception of Chris- 
tianity in the Roman etnpire. Nor do I even propose to quote, 
«3 I might do, pagej; of what is now discovered lo be fanaticism, 
from the writings of her Fleetwood, her Seeker, her Warburlon, 
her Burgess, her Porleus, her Hursley and her Wilberforce. I 
might refer to the common law of England, her philosophy, her 
literature, her poetiv, as moulded by her e'^tablished religion, 
but I vcill content mysi^lf fjr the present, at least, to rely on the 
testimony of her sainted Hannah More, who slat.'^s that it is 
within her recolleciion, that the first attempt was made to justify 
slavery by the Biblr. How prone is poor human nature, in its 
blind guidance, to strain at a gnat and swallow a camel! If a 
temperance society, in its honest and conscifnlious zeal lo arrest 
a confessedly wide spread and desolating evil, happens, in the 
means employed, lo accomplish so glorious an end, to adopt a 
pledge binding its members to practice a little more self denial 
thanxvc think the scriptural definiiion of temperance, or the ex- 
ample of Christ and his nposlles r( quires, the ultraism is eagerly 
exposed, the alarm of Protestant Jesuitism is sounded, and a 
rnouniain sized iieresy is seen in a piece of puritanism, v/hich 
hardly deserves to be rebuked with a smile, as an error leaning 
to virtue's side. But when a society, national in its dimensions, 
is organized, having for its sole end and aim, the niutivcless and 
abstract enterprise of expatriating from their native soil, from 
Christian and Republican America, to the shores of Pagan and 
benighted Africa, a certain description of our freemen — when 
this society is organized under a constiluuon devoid of a single 
lBori\l principle to draw its members together, and consequently 
virtue and vice can meet on terms of equal orthodoxy, in S3clal 
fellowship — when the patronage of church and stale are alike 
invoked, and to a great extent enlisted in its service — a society 



•where pro-slavery cupidity and anli-slavery benevolence have 
one purse — where the human llesh-monger and the duped phi- 
lanthropist an:ialznmate tlieir influence — wliere the Christiai 
evangelist of the North, and tiie worshipper of the soutliern Mo« 
Jocli, lake sweet counsel together — a society which frames re- 
publican constitutions and laws to impose on a foreign people, 
reserving to its own impersonal and indefinable self, appellate 
Jegislative and judicial authority — a societv whose only aliment 
is that anti-human prejudice, or systematic and gratuitous ha- 
tred, which originates in slavery and is limited to slaveholders 
and their allies, and which is sought to be inHamed to such a de- 
gree as to induce the belief that a man and a Christian cannot 
live on the same continent with his fellow man and fellow 
Christian, having a skin of a different hue, or but a drop of Afri- 
can blood in his veins; but that there must, as the president of 
this very orthodox socit- ly says in the speech I have been re* 
viewing, be a mutual hostility between the two races, which, 
unless restrained by the enslavement of the one by the other, 
would result in a war of extermination. When such a society 
leans so strongly on Christian b"nevolence for support, and 
draws sol'berally on the moial and pecuniary patronage of the . 
church for aid, can our Reverend and Rt. Reverend Doctors of 
Divinity, sec in its doctrines and its movements no deviation 
from ihe ''old paths'^ to rebuke?— nothing in the '•newmeas- 
7i''e5" invented by this society to reprehend ? When did Dr. 
Hawks, the historian of the church, discover that her law of love 
was not as Catholic as humanity ? At the feei. of what Gama- 
liel of our church did the learned Doctor sit when he received 
the '^new liglU,''^ v/hich, as a member of the Colonization Socie- 
ty he so zealously and so eloquently expounds and defends? 
Under whose apostleship was that hate canonized, which arrays 
■Christians against each other in battling the question whether 
a white or a biacli skin, a sharp or a flat noic, a thick or a thin 
lip, shall j-ank hi^jher in that kinirdom. whose only rule of court 
otiquetie is, ''7t'? that ex all eih hiins^jlf shall be abased, and he 
thathuviblelh himself shall be exaltecll''' 

When IMr. Cruramtl, a candidate for holy orders, petitioned 
the trustees ofour Theological Seminarv, at their Convention, 
in June last, to be admitted a student in the Seminary, in prepa- 
ring himself for the ministry, why did the three Doctors of Divi- 
nity, with t!u' Bishop of Pennsylvania at their head, who were 
on the commiitee to whom the petition was referred, biingia a 
report denying that petition ? "Why not assign some reason for 
the denial, bearing at least the semblance of canonical authori- 
ty, when by r;fu5ing the petition, tliey were trampling under 
fool the statutes by which the institution was governed, and 
doing Mr. Crummel personal injustice? Why not allow Eish- 



56 

^p Doane to be heard in dissenting from so singular a report t 
Perhaps some Episcopalians who love as much as this commit- 
tee do. to see all ihmgs done with decency and in order, would 
hare been interested in listening to the councils of a consecrated 
father m the church, on so nice a question, brought thus directly 
before him. But no — the most excellent arrangements of the 
church forbid it. The proceedings must go to the world through 
the oigan presses of the church, that a canonically approved 
candidate for her ministry, applies for admission into a seminary 
instituted for the express purpose of educating her ministers— 
that such petition is referre'1, reporied on, and, without an as- 
signed reason, and in plain violation of the laws of the iastilution, 
rejected by a majority vote of a board of trustees, composed of 
the Bishops of the church and about one hundred other clerical 
and lay gentlemen from the different stales and territories of the 
Union, and to crown the mystery, a Bishop dissenting from the 
resolution, is denied leave to assign his reasons to the board for 
such dissent, with a viewof having thementered on the minutes 
of their proceedings ! Such a record on its face, not only tells 
every diseerning mind of a clap-trap, but that its fabric.itors are 
wantingin tact and experience in its construction, which in an 
assembly of divines, is certainly creditable to their isjnorance of 
political stratagem. A writer under the signature of ".47i Epis- 
copalian,^^ subsequently appears and springs the trap, and un- 
ravels the whole mystery in a word, by letting us know that this 
Mr. Crumrael is of African descent I The writer is not known, 
but poor Mr. C, though not privy to the disclosure, is called upon 
by his Bishop to do vicarious penance for the sin, by being re- 
quired to come out publicly, and express his regrets at the publi- 
cation, under the penalty of being cut off as a candidate for the 
mmistry. This he did not do, and was consequently stricken 
from the li?)t of clerical candidates. I am not acquainted with 
Mr. C. personally, or otherwise, but, independent of the sympa- 
thies which he ougiit to feel for his proscribed and persecuted 
race, if he has a mind competent to grasp the great Catholic 
truths of our holy faith, which, under the new light of coloniza- 
tion orthodoxy, are so fashionably derided as "sublime abstrac- 
tions,"— if beneath bis dusky skin, there is a heart that pants in 
\inisonwith mine, for the prosperity of our Zion, he could not 
express his regrets at the righteous exposure of the earth-born, 
Babel building wisdom under which he was thrust from the in- 
stitution. 

I do notmfan to impeach the motives of his bishop in doing 
as he did. Far from it. I mean however, to say. that his judg- 
ment is not infallible. I mean more than this. I mean to say 
that if our late and highly esteemed diocesan loved the Lord 
his God with all his highly gifted mind, with the same measure 



57 

of dcTOtiou with which, I doubl not, he loves Him with all h ?* 
heart and soul, he would never have stricken Mr. Crumrael'i 
name from the list of candidates for orders — he would 
have seen in the views expressed by "An Episcopalian," truths 
and r.rg'uments in an unwelcome form, perhaps, but which an 
honest mind can nevei justify itself in rejecting on that account, 
and which called for the best intellectual labors of his under-^ 
standing, before he cast them out as heterodox, and cast out poor 
Crummel from the ministry, for not having an intuitive percep- 
tion of their heterodoxy. 

The Bishop, in subsequently making a very slight correction 
of the facts slated by ''An Episcopalian," (for he does not deny 
those above referred to, nor attempt to explain them,) evidently 
refers to the communication, as an appeal to public feeling, by 
which he ought not to be influenced. This is far from being 
satisfactoi-y. It conveys to my mind the insinuation that a Pro- 
testant Bishop is not to be arraigned at th e bar of public opinion 
— that he can plead the benefit of the clergy, to a bill preferred 
in the lay courts of that tribunal. Time was when this heteio- 
doxy was in worse odor among Protestants than it is now be- 
coming. We boast of the political, religious and intellectual 
freedom of our age and country, but never since the infallibility 
of the Pope was renounced, was the spirit oHpse dixitism rifer 
than now — never was a greater proneness seen in the church to 
pin religious faith to a bishop's sleeves, or to substitute the tradi- 
tion of her elders for the laws of her God. Our esteem for the 
church, and our regard for her safely, honor and welfare, should 
be shown in reminding her bishops that their apostolic genealo- 
gfV, unless connected with a purer, a more living and radical 
faith than is possessed by other clergy, will neither deserve nor 
receive much peculiar respect. The blood of Douglass must be 
evinced, not in the antique heir-loom, the black letter scroll, or 
the rusty armorials of the herald's office, but in the high resolve, 
the steadfast purpose, and the valorous achievcmentof a worthy 
posterity. As true knights of the cross, let them learn to spurn 
a triumph gained by base-born and vulgar expedients. Let 
them cling, -as with hooks of steel, to the sublime truths of their 
ancient faith, and leave the God of Sabaolh to take charge of 
the victory. Lci'-astra castra, ni'men lumen,'** be embossed 
on the shield of Christian Catholicism. 

If they wish to convince the world that theirs is indeed the 
favored channel of frrace— that they are in truth the legitimate 
descendants of that beloved disciple wholeaned on the Saviour'.* 
breast, let them no longer dabble in the dirty waters of a vile 
sectional prejudice— let them no longer take counsel of the capri- 
cious spirit of a skin deep, man-hating, God-contemning caste; 

' The stars my camp, the Deity toy light. 



58 

J)ut let them lead hy day, a-^d meditate by ni^ht — let them bind 
upon their fingers the counsel which that highly favored disci- 
ple gave them, and ffave the proscribed CruirHTJtl and his vilifi- 
fd race, when he tells little children to love one another. 

This brings me to notice more fully one oiiier "'7Lew measure'^ 
of our church, which, though not yet clnimnd to be catholic, is 
becoming very geneial in this meridian — I mean the anti-dis- 
cussion spirit. It was this spirit which presided when Crum- 
mel's petition was disposed of. It was this spirit which prompt- 
ed Dr. Rudd to exclude from the Gospel Messenger an unexcep- 
Jionably temperate inquiry, whiclr I proposed starting through 
Jhe columns of that paper, whether slavery was sinful or not. — 
It is this spirit which suppresses a mere notice of an anti-slavery 
lecture being read in many of our churches. It is this spirit 
which dictates an ominous silence, a mysterious non-committal- 
ism throughout the church, wliich counsels our clergy to say, 
we are neitlu-r pro-slavery nor anti-slavery — vve are neither hot 
nor cold on this subject; and the harmony and peace of the 
church must not be disturbed by its discussion. Much as this 
harmony is to be desired, it is only a virtue when associated 
with iniellectual freedom. Rather than one jot or tittle of the 
law be suppressed, and much rather than th« gitat question of 
slavery be smothered, let the chuich be not nr^ly sundered but 
shivered, till every man's enemies be those of his own household, 
— till the father shall be divided against the son, and the son 
against the father — the mother against the dauirhter, and the 
daughter against the mother — the mother-in-law against the 
daughtpr-in-law, and the daoghter-in-l.iw against the mother-in- 
law. Better in these, the days of deep humiliation to the church, 
that the scattered votaries of her ancient faith, walk together for 
a season in sackcloth, without a priest, and without a sacrifice, 
and without an imaire. and without an ephod, and VvMti;out tera- 
phim. If t lie little floe!-: should be driven to this t vn cmily. let 
them fear not, but let the consolnlion be theirs — let the soul-in- 
spiring conia^e be theirs — thai it is not the first time that evau- 
(relic faifh has wrestled with, and triumphed over ecclesiastical 
conservatism. 

We oceasionaliv hear the diiTerent religious sects talking 
about high church and low church — a distinction which in these 
northern states certainly, we ourselves do not recognize; and it 
is devoutly to be hoped will never become necessary. If, hov/- 
ever, as it is to be inferred from the policy adopted by some of 
her guides, a spirit has overleaped the rcnsecrattd walls ofour 
Zion, which will not toloiate the inquiry, whether this or tiiat 
course of conduct is consistent or inconsistent with her law of 
love — whetiier her Divine Head, when He commanded that those 
whom God had joined together, no man should put assucder^ 



59 

had a mental reserration in favor of the retail dealer in bumjin. 
•cattle — wheiher the universnl church, when raising her simulta- 
neous suppliration to her ''blessed Lord," that we may bear, 
READ, mark, learn and inwardly digest the Holy ScripturtSy re- 
quires her members to carry to the throne ofgrace the exception 
made in the slavery code, of those who have a drop of African 
blood in their veins; and the very fact of whose reading ih?ir 
Bibles is proof that a felony has been committed — if a spirit has 
got into our church which lakes cftence at the bare inquirv 
"whether such are her doctrines, and which padlocks the lips of 
her clergy, in expounding the Sciipiurcs to the people on this 
.point, then 1, for one, say we are shamefully late in draiving the 
line betvv-een high church and low church — we are disgracefuilr 
tardy in striking for a high church parly, and pledging every 
membpi of it, in a perpttunl covenant, to go to the stake, rather 
than surrender his gospel liberty or his catholic faith. It is often 
said, and Vv'iih too much truth, of Episcopalians, that the best of 
us fall far short of exhibiting in out lives, the beauty of our trul? 
high church principles; but the worst of us. I trust, would be 
disgraced, in reducing his practical morality down to that low 
and debasing churcbmanship, sought to be inflicted upon Epis- 
copacy by the votaries of a jiecuiiar institution. Were we a sec- 
tarian church, pledged lo a disiinciive and peculiar creed, our 
•consciences might feel the hamper, and our minds be embarrass- 
ed with the question, how much sfo'-pel liberiy should be sacrifi- 
ced at the shrine of sectarian faith; but wiien we worship a God 
*'whose seivice is perfect freedom" — when ouronlv conservative 
principle is evangelic faith and apostolic order. Vv'itb unrestricted 
gospel liberlv, for each one to determine for himself, aided by 
the kindly ttachings of the ciiurch, what that faith is, the high 
functionaries of oar church should encourage, rather than sup- 
press an examination of so interesting, f^o beautiful and so mo- 
mentous a question as is involved in the existence of American 
slavery. Many plausible arguments, growing out of the impor- 
tance of sustaining (heir cjnfession of i'ailb, might be put into 
the mouth of such Presbyterians, as smother the great moral 
principle which their general assembly of divines, with more 
Christian candor than conservative tact, asserted, when in 1S18, 
they fearlessly denounced slavery as •"utterly inconsistent with 
the laws of God.*' 

I can appreciate the strong temptations, which induce some of 
our modern Melliodisls to apologize for the uneouitly denuncia- 
tions employed by their Wesley and his primitive followers, 
against American slavery, when in tb.e scripless and purseless 
dignity of apostles, they spread their faith amonir our backwoods- 
men, and shook the dust from their feei^ as freely against-the 
lich as the poor, the master as the slave, that received not th« 



60 

l^ospel. I can ia like manner, invent an argument that would 
become the raouih of a Baptist, a Congregationalisl, or a mem- 
ber ol'any other branch of the church, while his conscience is 
tihernating between sectarian zeal and elementary morality.—- 
liui when we, who claim to be the iiunk of the church — who 
have in our stereotyped liturgy, a pole star, to the rectitude and 
truth of which, as a gospel expository, clashing sectaries have 
from age to age concurred in bearing honorable testimony — a 
church whose only recognized faith is an acknowledged litho- 
graph from the Rock of Ages — a church which looks with equal 
complacency on the tenets that sunder the followers of Calvin 
aud Luiher, and Armenius and Wesley — whose templegatcs aie 
opened wide to invite all to hear this faith expounded — which 
spreads her truly Catholic communion to all, irrespective of wrang- 
ling dogmas and catagories — "who do truly and earnestly repent 
of their sins, and are in love and charity with their neighbois, 
nnd intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of 
God, and walking from henceforth in His holy ways." Such a 
church can well aiford to be single minded in converging her 
holiest counsels, to enlighten the minds of those whom she thus 
invites to encircle hei altar, on the momentous question, who'is 
our neighbor, and what is lore and charity towards him — wheth- 
er the relation of neighbor is lost, or the law of love suspended 
by a human statute — whether we ought to feed the hungry and 
clothe the naked in Ohio, by the same rule as in Pennsylvania 
— whether, when the scarred and trembling victim of slavery 
comes to us, panting for restoration to denied humanity, and 
evinces that he is indeed a man and a brother, our heart should 
recognize any other ])rompter than the inextinguishable sym- 
pathies which the God of Nature has planted there, or our hand 
submit 10 the guidance of any other directory than the God of 
Revelation has emblazoned on the pages of his word. The fear 
10 discuss these, and a thousand other points of moral duty 
growing out of the slavery code, is alibelon ourchutch. If her 
virgin gold is indeed so basely alloyed, as to lender such a dis- 
cussion dangerous to her unity, let her be broken up. A pitcher 
so frangible, is as unfit for use as a oroken pitcher, and much 
more deceptive. 

I suppose one of the great advantages of Episcopacy to be, 
that she has less occasion to p?rplex herself about her conserva- 
tism than oiher associations, that we are all orthodox so long 
as we are Christians, and that 'hough the church is our instruct- 
or in some few points respecting her own organization, she 
never excommunicates foi a diversity of opinion, even in this 
matter. She never assumes the authority of a lawgiver, on any 
controverted point of Christian doctrine, but draws the mind and 
conscience of her members by persuasion, counsel and argumenij 



m 

10 the wisdom and purity of which, her conservaiive strength is 
concealed. 

Bat whether I am right oi not in my views of the church, or 
of her gespel, I am prepared to be still more ultra on the anti- 
slavery question. In yielding a single hearted devolioo to the 
God of truth, as he has revealed himself to my mind, I must cast 
behind me a pro-slavery Christianity. I see much in the work^«., 
as well as the word of God, which transcends the limited com- 
prehension of my feeble mind, and which reminds me of the in- 
fantile state of my rational functions, and the consequent pro- 
prieiyof cultivating a childlike meekness, and docilily of spirit, 
in learning the wondrous things of God's law. But all the en- 
ergies of my embryo mind, every attribute of my infant soul, h 
instinct with holy warfare against a God, who declares to me in 
His revealed will, that 1 can enslave, or be enslaved, without vio- 
lating His laws. It is engraven on my heait, it is stereotyped 
on my soul, that such a God is not the author of my being, and 
that consequently I owe Him no homasre. I cannolcrucify com- 
mon sense, I cannot abjure axiomic truth for the sake of defending 
a slavery approving Bible. I take sides on this question, with 
those who signed the Declaration of Independence. But who 
would have thoufrhtat that day, that by doing so, I am taking 
sides with the infidel, against the doctrine of Christ? Who 
would have then thought, that the Tom Paine's of that day. des- 
titute as they were, of ammunition to assail the reliiiion of Jesus, 
would so soon have the work accomplished to their hand, by a 
misguided ministry, the necessary consequence of whose doc- 
trines is to stab her under the fifth >-ib, between the porch and 
the altar of her own sanctuary. I. hope and believe that tho 
number of those clergy who fail under this condt-mnation, is yet 
limited, but 1 am not to be deterred from taking this high stand, 
though sixteen mitred prelates, with their nine hundred and 
thirty-one consecrated priests, should all come out in canonical 
array, raise the ecclesiastical sneer, point liie finger of clerical 
reproach, and unite in the war-cry of fanatic, against me. M? 
mor?l and physical perceptions all tell me, that there is more of 
this fanaticism in heaven and earth than flic^kers in my poor 
empty bosom— that it is but a part of (hat congenial flame which 
pervades mind and matter, sense and substance, and by which 
all things created impait to each other the conscious truth, that 
they are the handy workof a liberty-loving, a slave-abominating 
God ; and although a somewhat '''exciting subject,'''' to every 
susceptible nature, this so much deprecated fanaticism is not 
pent up or smothered down, by a Lynch club of commissioned 
archangels, or a theological gag, invented by nature's high priest; 
but the passing breeze is allowed to whisper it to the listening 
grove — the wrathful tornado is licensed to proclaim it to ih© 



62 

rending oak— the majesilc ocean Avave bears it in solemn potap 
to the distant shore — the incendiary stars connive with each 
other through their twinkling lays, and dart the tidings from 
cycle to epicycle, from system to systen-., from centre to circum- 
ference, of nature's uoiversal realm. Every element is telegra- 
phic of the intelligence — every sentient being is ^'fanaticised'* 
with the exciting theme. Nor has man escaped the contagion. 
Prone as is his abject and dilapidated nature to invent an inferior 
deity, that will mirror fotih his broken perfections, and prototype 
his present apostaey, when did he ever, in his extreme debase- 
ment, worship a pro slavery God ? The iron-hearted Roman 
had a god of war, and the ferocious Vandal a god of vengeance, 
but range the Pagan world, 

"Fiom Greenlanrl's icy mountains 
"To India's coral strand," 

and where will the hill be found, that ever reeked with incense, 
burnt to a slavery loving divinity ? When did the Nine sisters 
hold dalliance wilhihe demon of slavery? When was Apollo's 
lyre strung to his praise? When did the wild haip ofnortherQ 
minstrelsy, in its long buried melodies, indite a hymn to the 
darkvampyre? When did the debased Hottentot — when did 
the "^inferior race'^ th-at people the coast of Africa, bend their 
benighted souls to such a god ? Never till the Christian coffle 
was forged — never till the evangelical thumb-screw was invent- 
ed — never till his flesh had hissed beneath the initializing brand 
of gospel chattelship — never till his blood and sinews had tasted 
the glad tidings and good will to men, measured out by the cord 
o! patriarchal affection— a cord, which, as my friend Staunton 
describes it, is seven feel long, with a silken twist at one end, and 
a loaded stock at the other. It was then, that his broken heart 
sod mangled spirit essayed to sins: the new song, set to gospel 
music, and to chaunt a forced hallelujah to a slavery-approving 
God. 



MUTILATIONS OF 

MODERN CHRISTIANITY. 

In the view of slavery taken in the foregoing chapter, I am 
quite sensible that the inl'erences there drawn, will be as revolt- 
ing lo the leeliiigsof all who call liiem-elves Cliristians, as they 
are irrefutable to the minds of all who fancy the nselVes inde- 
pendent ihinkers. Justice to the many honest hearts apologi- 
zing for slaverr, forbids that their heads, however hoary with 
experience, however sage ot repute in political or eccle?i'astical 
council, should any longer be regarded as an implicit directory 
10 the Ten^ple of Celestial Wisdom. If we coaj[)are creeds, it 
will be found that there is at least one point on which there is 
perfect unanimity. We are all opposed to the Catholicism of 
slavery, or the indiscriminate and reciprocal application of its prin- 
ciple. Some few of us, on this side of Mason ant! Dixon's line, 
may have embraced southern orthodoxy, as taught by Professor- 
Dew, that African slavery is not only the sheet anchor of our 
liberty, but the handmaid of our religion. The most of us, how- 
evti, will agree in condemning even African slavery in the ab- 
stract. Thus far we are tolerably harmonious. But when we 
begin to analyze slavery as it is. with a view of d.-lineatin:: its 
moral character and enquiring what are the duties of ihe church 
respecting it, ihen it is that the subtlety of human Jesuitism is 
Been oozing out of every pore of the conscience; then it is that 
arrogance knits its brows into a frown, and the errors and infir- 
mities of the great are aped, till each one vauntinfjly says, 

"I cough like Horace ; and though lean, am short." 

The sanctity of public prejudice is invoked, and even the less 
pious demonstrations of a brickbat are not despised arguments, 
when thrown from the castle of conservative power, against ra- 
dical truth.. Some say, that inasmuch as slaveiv is a political 
fvil, it is for the statesman, and not the clergyman to see it. — 
Others piy into the politic j of the Almighty, and wiih all the sa- 
piencyofa member of His privy council, pionounce slavery a 
curse, dispensed to this nation, which He will remove in tlia 
own good time, and that we must not distract the mysterious 
councils of Heaven, by a rash interference with it. Many de- 
rive miich pious comfort in the speculation that Christianity will 
do, by indirection, what it would be wions: to do directly, in the 
way of destroying slavery, and that it will ultimaielv "die of a 
rose in aromatic pain." But the cataplasm which has the most 
■ooLhiog influence on the public conscience, is found in the tiiae 



64 

honored dogma, that religion should ncvfr interfere, directly, 
with the law making power, but that its office is to enjoin loyal- 
ty to Csesar, and not frustrate his councils. In the foregoing 
review, I had occasion to touch incidentally the fallacy of 
this position. Subsequent reflection induces me to trace out its 
genealogy and history, not so much for the sake of vindicating 
ray anti-slavery principles, as of calling the attention of that por- 
tion of the Christian public, who love the God of Truth more 
than the god of Public Opinion, to a heresy of unspeakable 
magnitude. In opposing this dogma, I am aware that I am op- 
posing the established usnges of all nations. Christian and hea- 
then, in all ages of the world. I am, however, equally aware, 
that I am also opposing all the Jesuitism, nine tenths of the prac- 
tical infidelity, and probably as large a fraction of the hypocrir^y 
with which the religion of Jesus has been strangling these fif- 
teen hundred years past. The subject is one whose importance 
claims a hundred f'old more time, and a thousand fold more 
space, than I can at present afford it. All I propose doing, is to 
sketch, and that but rudely, a few of its outlines, just enough to 
provoke an abler and more leisurely pen, aided by a minuter 
acquaintance with ecclesiastical history, and enriched with a 
deeper perception of Bible truth, to complete the picture. 

From the year 98, in the reign of Trajan, to that of Constan- 
tine, there was a standing Imperial edict, authcri>ing capital 
punishment to be inflicted on every subject of the Roman Em- 
pire, who would not renounce Christianity. On the death of 
ConstantiusChlorus, his son Constantine was in the year 306, 
chosen Empeior, by the soldiery. With this color of title to the 
crown, which was undoubtedly the most available that the dis- 
tracted state of the dilapidatinsr empire could confer, he marched 
into the western provinces, and took possession of Gaul, Spain 
and Britain. He then overcame the Franks, made prisoners of 
two of their leaders, follov/eu them over the Rhine, and there 
surprised and defeated them in signal triumph. He then direct- 
ed his arms against his competitor Maxentius, and while in this 
campaign, he represents that he saw a flaming cross in the heav- 
ens, beneath the sun, bearing the inscription, ^'■Jnhcc signo v'n- 
c^.?," (under this sign thou shall conquer.) In the following 
night, he says Christ appeared to birr, and commanded him to 
take for his standard an imitation of the fiery cross he had seen 
in the heavens. He accordingly caused such a standard to be 
constructed, which he called the Labarum, under'^'which, a few- 
days afterwards, (Oct. 27th, 312.) he vanquished the army of 
Maxentius, under the walls of Rome, and drove it into the Tiber. 
He then entered the city in triumph, and received as a reward 
for his pious valor, from the Roman Senate, the title of Pontifex 
MaximuSy or chief pontiff, or priest of the Pagan hierarchy. The 



65 

next year, (313,) he publishes tbe memorable edict, giving equal 
loleration to Christian and Pagan worship throughout the Ro- 
man Empire, and restoring to the Christians all the property 
which had been taken from ihcm and confiscated. He also or- 
dained some other very humane edicts, among which was one 
prohibiting the separation of the domestic lelations, on the sale 
of slaves. He and his son-in-law Licinius, who was another of 
his competitors, carried on a continued war against each other, 
the one surrounded by his bishops and the Christians under the 
iabnnum. and the other by his magicians and soothsayers, un- 
<lei the Pagan standard, till 325, when Constantine's forces pre- 
vailed, and he became the sole and undisputed head of the 
Eastern and We«:tern Empire. He then attended the celebra- 
ted Council of Nice, and occupied the golden chair, while the 
great queston of Christian orthodoxv between the Tjinitarians 
and the Arians, was under discussion ; and though he sided with 
the Trinitarians in that controversy, yet he was baptized by ae 
Arian priest, during his last illness and just before his death, in 
.337. 

Up to the time of this rally under the /«fearwra, I have been 
enable to find an authentic account of Christians resorting to 
^physical "oercion, or approvingly recognizing war, in any emer- 
gency. The circumstance of their bishops, clergy and laity, 
joining the standard of Constantine with so little hesitancy, in 
connection with the f-icl that the Christianized Pagans were, 
and always had been, very superstitious in their belief of mira- 
culous signs and wonders, IS certainly very strong evidence of 
their being honestly duped by the military chieftain into the 
belief that a genuine revelation had been made to him from 
heaven, and that the labanim, constructed in pursuance there- 
of, was indeed, a consecrated standard, under which it was the 
duty of Christians to array themselves in military warfaie. Eu- 
sebius, himself, the father of ecclesiastical bistoiV; speaks of the 
.labarum, and many other miraculous occurrences, in his day, 
and in the previous history of the church, with apparent appro 
bation and credence. 

Christianity had passed through the fire often successive -per- 
-?iecutions. beginninir with the persecution in the year98, wheir 
John, the last surviving apostle, closed the volume of Revelation 
by writing the Apocalypse, and ending with the ascension of 
Constantine to the throne of the Roman Empire. During this 
period, her faithful votaries were crucified, beheaded, thrown in- 
to the amphitheatre of v;ild beasts, and tortured in every variety 
of mode, which Roman inrrenuity could invent, with a view of 
exterminating what the learned and astute Tacitus pronounced 
3T1 execrable or pernicious superstition. Pernicious it assuredly 
wat to the religious institutions which the wisdom and patrioi 

5 



66 

ism tind philosophy of Rome had been fosteiingand aggrandizing 
fat ages; but its essence was inextinguishable, and its progress 
*»ward. This Cunstantine had the sagacity to see. and amid 
the distractions which then reigned in the Roman Empire, he 
consulted his ambition, and mounted Christianity as a political 
hobby. Who that understands the benignant character of our 
religion, and the deep laid schemes of political ambition, does 
oot perceive in the words "m hoc signo vinces," which he pre- 
tends greeted his car, the whisperings of the oracle of military 
adTisnture, rather than the voice of the Prince of Peace? The 
trick, in this less superstitious, lind more crafty age of the world, 
must be obvious to every mind ; and the Roman Senate shewed 
iBore good sense and adherence to their orthodoxy, in consecra- 
ting him Pontiff j: Ma.vinms, ihnn did Aihanasius and Eusebi- 
us and their brother bishops, at the Council of Nice, in admitting 
hita to help settle a principle of Christian faitii, oi their succes- 
sors, in subsequently canonizing Irni as a saint. This was the 
first monarch that ever «pprov;ng!y recognized cur religion, and 
from that day to this, (wiili the exception ol Julian the apostate,) 
T am not aware of a potentate in Christendom, that has not 
been clothed, in some form, with eccltsiasiical honors and autho- 
rity, given in barter by the church, for political prelection and 
secular patronage. 

Eusebius, the historian of the church up to this time, very 
naturally gives vent to his graiiiude to God, and his praises of 
Constantine, when he contrasts ihy clemency and toleiance of 
thai monarch, w^itb the bitter and unrelenting prrsecutions which 
Christianity had sulfered, from the time that her Author was 
nailed to the cross, at Jerusalcni, to the time when she ascen«T- 
•d the throne of the C^sars, in the person of his beloved sove- 
reign. But it does not appear to have occurred to that bishop, 
or his cotemporaries, or to their successors in cffice, that the re- 
ligion of Christ was not designed by its Aulhor as a substitute 
f«r Paganism, in dancing attendance at the rourts of ?n earthly 
potentate, and yet the result of evangelizing the Roman Em- 
pire, was to place Chiistianity under the Vving of political pow- 
«r, and have it move in the same :-( condary orbit round the 
throne of Csesar, which Paganism had previously occupied. It 
does not seem to have occurred to the Chiistians of that day^ 
that their religion and Fagonir.ii Vv'ere as different in their claims 
and pretensions as they are io their riles and requirements.— 
The one was evidently an invented religion, the creature of pub- 
lic opinion, p'astic and acGomiijodating in its theory, and self- 
adjusUngto the spirit of the times, and v/as consequently a use- 
ful engine of state power, and properly controlled by the wisdom- 
of the Roman Senate : the other ciaiaud to be artvelation from 
tJie fountain oflnfmile Wisdom, predicated oajhe blindness and 



67 

folly of worldly expediency, and was consequently Inflexible in its 
requirements of iiTiplicit obedience, and unaccommodating in its 
principles. The subsequent history of the church, from that day to 
this, shews that the one of these religions slid inio the same 
niche previously occupied by the other. If there be any differ- 
ence in point of loyalty to Coesar, or obsequiousness to his nod, 
it is in the more dapper and pliant spirit with which Christianity- 
net only truckles to political iniquity, but lends it her mantle, 
and baptizes its ministers with her titles of '"Defender of th« 
Faith," "Most Christian Majesty," &c. 

Happy, thrice happy would it have been for our race, if the 
pliable and credulous Eusebius, and his duped cotemporaries, 
had, at this most critical epoch in the history of Christianity, 
given their minds to the science of moral influence, as revealed 
in their religion, and so strikingly illustrated in its history, in- 
stead of lending so easy an ear to the inventions of a designing 
politician. They would have seen that there is a law, ancient 
as God's throne, and co-extensive with the supremacy of Hi« 
sceptre, by which it is decreed that error, though clad in triple 
steel, must fall before the omnipotence of truth, and that the 
birthrisht of virtue is a sceptre of dominion over vice. They 
would have seen that in the politics of heaven, truth is a unit, and 
that harmony reigns in her empire, whether in heaven or on 
earth, while error is manifold and multiform, and the demon of 
distraction is decieed to be her privy counsellor. It" they had 
but understood the ta<'tics of the Great Magician, who makeK 
diviners mad, when He vested all pov/er in a little party, then 
composed of eleven illiterate fishermen, they would never ha^e 
mingled councils with an earthly prince, however potent. They 
would indeed have rtjoiced, they would hare thanked God and 
taken courage, when they saw that the righteous work was go- 
ing forward, in defiance of the powers and principnlities of earth, 
to such an extent that political ambition was already beginning 
to discover the expediency of paying its destined knee-tribute. 
They would have blessed heaven for the breeze, instead of crin- 
ging to the Vveathercock that was turned by it. Instead of rally- 
ing under the laharumo^ a military chieftain, ihi'y v/ould have 
clung- yet riiore tenaciouslv to the true cross, and as faithful sol- 
diers, fighting under the Great Captain of their salvation, would 
have despised those carnal we.ipons which he rejected in estal>- 
lishing a kingdom not of this world. 

Never, since Adam substituted the counsels of expediency, 
taught him by the wily serpent, for the commands of his God', 
was so lamentable an error committed. Ten times had Chris- 
tian truth passed through the fire of politica' persecution, and 
ten times had it come out purified of earthly dross — the hotter 
the furnace the brighter the gold. Christianity waxed mightier 



68 

till just as she was achieving her triamphs over 
the principalities and powers of darkness, in an evil hour, she 
took counsel in the school of human expediency, and mingled 
earthly with celestial wisdom. From that day to this, her sil- 
ver has become dross ; her wine mixed with water. Her faith- 
ful votaries had, under the example of her Founder and His 
apostles, been well trained, by nearly three hundred years expe- 
rience, to endure persecution ; but the lime had now arrived, 
when a new lesson was to be learned, in which they had abun- 
dant precept, but no canonical example to guide them. In the 
school of adversity, they grew strong and wise, but they made 
shipwreck on the shoals of vorldly prosperity. They could en- 
dure the cioss, the gibbet, the stake and the laek; but the smiles 
of princes, the pageantry of courts, the pomps and vanities of 
worldly power, and the ''ascinations of political influence, allured 
them to deviate from the billierto thorny path oi virtue. For 
three hundred years, Christianity was a mighty champion in 
fighting tiiegood fight of faith. He slew his thousands and his 
tens of thousands, his millions and his tens of millions, till his 
awe-stricken foes quailed and looked aghast, wondering within 
themselves, where his great strength lay; but the Delilah of hu- 
man expediency enticed him. and while dreaming of earthly 
bliss, and unmindful of his consecration vows, the Nazarene per- 
mitted the razor to come upon liis head, and his seven locks to 
be shaven. From that day to this, lie has been grinding in the 
prison house of Philistine seivitude. From that day to this, he 
has been the sport of the worshippers of a political Dagon. 

The subsequent history of the church is soon told, and might 
easily have been foreseen. In every department of action, her 
grand and distinctive maxim was inverted — expediency became 
the standard of principle, instead of principle being the standard 
of expediency. Her integrity broken, and the maxims of human 
«ti'ily substituted for the chaste severity of her radical faith, her 
gradual descent into the sink of pollution, in which she wallow- 
ed for the next twelve centuries, followed by as natural a se- 
quence, as does the degradation, and ultimate loathsomeness, of 
the incautious female, on her first swerving from the path of 
virtue. 

It is generally supposed that the Protestant Reformation re- 
stored the church to its pristine integrity. This to my mind, 
is an error a^ egregious as it is j)opular, among Protestants. — 
Luther and Calvin, Melancthon and Zuinglius, Wickliffe and 
Knox, r.nd their worthy compeers, did much in stemming the 
tide of Jesuitism, and correcting the abuses of a corrupted Chris- 
tianity, but they also left much undone. They cut up by the 
Tools different classes of errors, some of which sprung from abo- 
riginal Paganism, some from a secularized Christianity, and 



69 

some from ihat mongrel state of public sentiment proceediag 
from a coalition of the two religions. Anaong the Jirst, and 
Jeast abnoxious of these tribes, may be reckoned image worship, 
invocation of saints and angels, the sanctity of lelics, and the 
canonization of saints. In the second^ and most fjrmidable 
tribe, may be classed the infalibility of the Pope, sale of indiil- 
gencies, auricular confession, pardoning of sins, the invention 
ofa purgatoiy, and enjoining il»e ignorance of the laiiy. The 
</i2rc/ class embraces that heterogeneous family, growing out of 
the superstition of the former, and the fanaticism of the latter, 
surh as penance, monastic seclusion, supererogation, keeping no 
faith wiih heretics, propagating religion with the sword, preserv- 
ing ecclesiastical conservatism by papal bulls, &c. 

In lopping off"these,and kindred errors, both in faith and prac- 
tise, the Protestant reformers did much. Their labors were Her- 
culean, their courage and fortitude heroic, and their meed of 
renown deservedly imperishable. But while we revere thtir un- 
dying names, we cannot be too careful of sliding into that error, 
■which they so nobly shunned, and (o which mankind, in all ages, 
iiavc ever been lamentably prone — that of picturing to our ima- 
gination a beau ideal ofperfection in the great and good raen 
with which the world has from time to time been favored. The 
Grecians had a Hercules, the Chinese a Confucius, the Persians 
a Zoroaster, the English an Ali'red, and the Americans a Wash- 
ington, who have, by the overweening veneration of succeeding 
ages, been more or less the objects of an idolatrous admiration. 
It is to this foible of our fallen nature, that the heroes of Pagaa 
antiquity are indebted fur theii apotheosis, and the saints of Ca- 
•tholic Christendom for their canonization. In the same spirit of 
man-worship, Protestants have put on the livery of moral and 
intellectual servitude, and have been proud to demean themselves 
■with the idolatrous epithet of Calvinist, Lutheran, &.c., by sub- 
stituting, as a platform, the opinious of these illustrious, but fall- 
ble champions of the reformation, for the rock oftiuth. If the 
spirits of the great :ind good, that have departed this life, were 
permitted to mingle with their earthly adnjirers, how emphati- 
cally would they say to us, as Parneli's angel did to his pious 
hermit, 

. "Nav, cease to kneel-thy fellow servant 1 1" 

How severely would the mighty shade of Bacon rebuke those 
Christians who substitute ihe heathen and hrule ipse dixit of 
the peripatetic school, for the heaven-descended, the inductive 
philosophy which he analyzed ! It may seem to us that the 
Holy Spirit employed too severe an epithet, when He called those 
early Christians "car?taZ," for merely saying one to another, ''I^ 
amof Paul, and lof ApoUos," and thereby substituting His ow^. 
highly honored amanuensis fora model, instead of the one ©0'' 



70 

perfect ensnmple ; but we should never forget the awful accom- 
paniments of the following declaialion from Mount Sinai, nor 
the place assigned it on the tvvo tables of stone, '^I amilie Lcrdthy 
God: Thou shalthave none other gads hut vieP It is in a spirit 
of simple minded obedience to this solemn behest, mingled with 
a filial regnrd for ihe ncble example set me by the master spirits 
of the Rv:formatiun, that I propose lo employ the weapons, they 
taught me tou!^>e.in canvassing their woil:s and in calling ihe atten- 
tion of ihcir followers to one of iheir unfinished, or rather misgui- 
ded labors ; and with as much courtesy, at least, as is conceived 
to be due from conscious truth to consecrated error, I propose to 
invade tiie time hallowed courts of Protestant Christianity. 

In renouncing the eirors of Romanism, the ecclesiastical pow- 
er exercised by the Pope as the supreme head of the then undi- 
vided western chuich, instead of beinir abrogated or vested in 
thereloimed churches, ihrouijh their Bishops, their Presbyters, 
or their congregalionnl authorities, was cantoned out to the terri- 
torial sovereign, in his political capacity. This, instead of being 
a refojrnation, was in reality, a sacrilege. It might be, and un- 
doubU'uly was. l.igl'.ly inexpedient to dothe any one functionary 
of the cl':urch ^^ iih so much power as t!r(> pupal see had, by poli- 
tical devices, concentrated in his own hands; but itwasan utter 
perv.'-rsion ol" principle, and a profane dec-eeration, to attach any 
portion of thii power to a secuiar crown. Such, however, was 
the uniform prr.ctise throughout Proler-tant christeridom. In 
Englc^-nd, th-e struirglefor supreme ecclepi.''.':iical power, took place 
uuder thv reign of Henry the eighth. Shortly after that ruthless 
tyrant had written a controversial treatise against Prote«;tantisrii, 
and had h-^^en rewarded by tlie Pope for this service, with the title 
oV- Defender of the Failhj^ he took it into hi;? head that tho 
paprl provisions and power.?, so far as England -vas concerned, 
might as well he appropriated to himself. The contest bttwcra 
him and the Pope, on thispoint, Vvaslong and severe. The wea- 
pons employed, were papal bulls on one side, and penal statutes 
oi prcimunire on the other. At length the moral influence of 
the Protpsiant faith, combined \vijh the vaullin<r r.mbiiion of the 
Engli-h tv.ant, prevailed. From that day to thi-=, the supreme 
ecclei.iastical power of the church has been a prerogative of the 
English cuwn, and the trlle cf Defender oftlie Faith, earned by 
Henry the eigirth, in v,'riting dowa Protestantism, has been in- 
herited bv his Protestant snccessors, and is nov/ considered a 
reward of their labors in building it up. 

There ate three distinct theories resorted to, on which supreme 
fcclesias'.ieal power is claimed by, and yielded to, the Protestan; 
sovereigns cf Europe. One is the Episcopal system, so called, 

•ording to which this power was transferred from the Tiara 
< iC secular ciown by the Reformation, a snecimen of whieh 



71 

ta seen in England. A second i:^ the ierri'orial system^ found- 
<ed on the principle that the worldly ruler is by virtue of his office. 
the head of the churcii in his own donoinions. This is the Pa- 
gan theory, and is evidently borrowed from their usages. The 
third is the collegial system, whioh assumes that the members 
of aci.urchare a society whose risfhts rest upon a contract, v.'here- 
by it is supposed that a part of those rights are confeired by the 
soverei.jn. All are tquaily unscriptural, ar^d repugnant to the 
genius of a religion which chiims to be revealed from lieaven, 
and which jealously exacts of its votaries the supreme and en- 
tire devotion of the heart and life. 

The Reformers have given us a very pure code of moral ethics 
between man ant' man, in the Clirisiian religion, but they have 
made us pay (oc it very dearly in requiring us to obey Csefiar 
rather than Gvd, in th-o case o/ a political emergency. Th^y 
have taug!it us liiat Christianity, :\s between siibject and subject, 
is a perfect and holy law ; but that as between potentate and 
potentate, it is a mere :ail piece to balance the kite of political 
power — that the altar ol the cliurca is indeed holy to the people, 
but to the- prince it is a mere foorsfool to the throne. In this 
double character, our religion is luld up to the world. In the 
assaults which it receives from those whom it denounces as free 
thinkers, it ss not always easy to d -termine whether the derider 
or the deiided are most in fault. 

After wallowing in the mire of ecclesiastical corruption, and 
stiangling in the me? lies of politic;;! intrigue since tae days of 
Conslantine. it would be natural enough to indulge the fond hope 
that Christianity had at lengtii found an arylum in the New- 
World — thai liiis child ofthe skies, after panting so long for de- 
liverance from the cruel nurture of an earthly foster-mother, 
would breath? a congenial atmosflwre in a clime rt-dclent with 
liberty. The new iheory ofthe right and power of a people to 
govern themselves, had innuy points of coincidence and conge- 
riality, and none of collisiLO, with her ehraeiitary truths. The 
doctrine of the essential cquah'ty of man was already hfrs. The 
great demociQ.ic principle that God is no respecter of persons, 
was a cardinal article of her ancient faith. T!ie dcctrire tha^ 
God h.ad made of one blood all nations of men, to owell on 9II 
the fac!' of the earth, paved the way for a lepublican form of 
government, hy reducing to a polical fiction ti:c divine right of 
kings, and the hereditarv aristocracy of a ti led nobility. The 
Chrisiian and the American citizen are alike taught to calico 
man master. Ti^e organic laws of our free institutions recog- 
nize, for the first time in the hisfory of our race, the supremacy 
(Of God's laws over human lefiislation, when they granted th» 
/elementary and unalienable right of worshipping God with that 
freedom and independence which the supreme and imbribed dc- 



72 

TotioB of the heart requires, without fear or censare from politi- 
cal power. Our clergy, too, instead of leaning on the corrupt ingr 
patronage of an earthly potentate, are taught to preach the al- 
most obsolete doctrine that the laborer is worthy of his hire.-^ 
For the first time on earth, wa^ Christianity allowed to assert 
her jurisdiction over the whole empire of moral evil, in high 
places as well as in low, and her ministers licensed to proclaim 
the whole counsels of God, as freely to the lawgiver as to the sub- 
ject, to the judge as to the culprit, and to teach the great, but ill 
remembered truth, that virtue exalteth a nation. The throne of 
political power had heretofore been a sanctuary for sin, and the 
ambassador of Christ, instead of standing forth m the grandeur 
and moral dignity of a representative of the King of Kings, had 
been trained in the school of a dastard expediency, to mingle 
with the meanest sycophants of a mercenary court. Instead of 
rebuking political transgression with that pungent- seventy em- 
ployed by Nathan to the King of Israel, he threw the mantle of 
clerical influence over the sins of royaltv. and taught an insulted 
and loo credulous laity to call him ''''Most Christian Majesty.''* 
The unspeakable advantages, resulting from the divorcement 
of church and state, have never been appreciated by the Ameri- 
can church. Christianity has so long truckled to political power, 
that her ancient gospel claims seem to have been lost by pre- 
scription. She has been so long employed to work the engine 
of state, that an opinion has grown venerable with age, and pl- 
oys for uniform sanctity, that it is a part of her vocation, and that 
she must at all events, haimonize herself with the powers that 
be — that a spirit of concession must be cultivated, which seem3 
to be considered as interesting a virtue between church and 
state, as between husband and wife. Now Christianity, instead 
of being so very meek and amiable a yokefellow in the conjugal 
relation, is exactly the reverse. She is at war with every thing- 
that is inconsistent with the perfect law of truth and holiness. 
She does not, indeed, interfere with the schemes of worldly wis- 
«lom, when employed about worldly matters, either public or 
private, individual or political, till a question touching the ex- 
positio.i ofG3d's law is agitated, the righteousness of a proposed 
act is to be decided, or the removal of a moral evil is to be effect- 
ed. She then claims to be the sole oracle. She refuses to min- 
gle counsels with statesmen, or to sic in caucus with worldly 
wiseacres, to discuss the question, when is the most convenient 
season to renounce sin, nor will she listen to an argument to 
prove the expediency of gradualism over immediatism in the re- 
moval of moral evil;' but she at once draws the two edged sword 
of gospel truth, and severs at a blow, the gordiau knot of a cora- 
piicated iniquity. She assails moral evil, in season and out of 
''season, directly and iodirectly, collaterally and bilaterally, ii*- 



Baediately and uncompromisingly. Nor doss she respect ihos* 
Technical limits of human responsibiliiy which President Way- 
land has invented, by checkin^f her thunders in mid-volley, for 
fear that the designs of a political blackleg may be defeated, or 
the popularity of a corrupt administration scathed. But the 
higher iniquity vaults, and the more towering its political ram- 
parts, the fiercer are her thunders. She will not, indeed, breafc 
the bruised reed, but in the kindest accents of mercy, she whis- 
pers to the penitent, thrust down to the lower walks of life, by an 
ignominious transgression, ^'Neithf-r do I cojidemn thee; ga 
and sin nomore/^ But when those who sit in Moses' seat are 
arraigned — when the philaciery of official rank is enlarged to 
cover iniquity — when the blind leader of the blind is detected — 
tvhen widow's houses are devoured, or grievous burdens are 
bouad on men's shoulders — when mint, and anise, and cummin 
are lithed, as a substitute for omitted judgment, mercy and faith 
— when political and ecclesiastical power is perverted, till it re- 
sembles a whited sepulchre — when the tombs of the prophei3 
tre built up, or the sepulchres of the righteous garnished, as a 
stroke of conservative policy, by the incumbents of power, she 
does not pause to enquire whether a corrupt administration is 
worse than none, whether the net work of political chicanery is 
uot profitable, as an engine of secular povver, till something bet- 
ter can be substituted : but she at once girds herself with omni- 
potence, her right arm waxes red v/ith wrath, her bolts of ven° 
geanceare sped, and the deep damnation of her woes are poured 
forth upon the popularity-seeking scribe, the Jesuitical Pharisee, 
and the well masked h'ypocnre, and notwithstanding the high 
J)Iaces they disgr>ice, the greetings they receive in the mark^-t, 
and the uppermost rooms at L-asts, or the chief seats in the syna- 
gogues, that public opinion may assign them; notwiihstancling 
they are called of men Rabbi ; she tramples all their dignitiea 
beneath her feet, and v/ith witheiing contempt, says to them, 
*'ye serpents, ye gentralion cj vipers ! Iioio can ye escape th$ 
damnation of hell ?'' 

It is often said, that a man born and bred in slavery, requires 
preparatory training to enable him to enjoy liberty. I fear it will 
require a much bnger time to prepare the American church,- to 
resume the full exercise of that liberty wherewith Christ has 
made her free, and of which she has been so long bereft. Her 
Founder granted, and our constitution has ratified'the grant, that 
she shall hold the helm of moral power to guide this nation, so 
far as to keep her legislative, executive and judicial councils 
within the line of obedience to God's latv, but no faither. It is 
for the pulpits to expound and construe the original compact be- 
tween God and this nation, and if a statute he passed by our le- 
jialalures, colliding with such compact, it is for th« clergy xq 



74 

proclainn it a nullity from the pulpits, and to teach men to tram- 
ple upon it as such, and Jirecl the adoption of such political ac- 
tion as the emergency of the occasioa may require, to bring the 
sovereign power of those who fear God, lobe felt i>i the most ef- 
fectual manner, in haviui^ ihe statute expuntrt^d from ihe archives 
of our country. Feeble as rnav be the inlluence of Christian 
ethics on public opinion, it has always been abundantly able, if 
exerted, to frustrate the councils of the most popular iniquity. 
None would quail sooner at the array of moral inlluence, than 
the crafty and unptineiplcd politician, none would be more ter- 
ror-stricken at seeiijs: her hand-wiiting: on the wall. 

But to say nothinr^ ofour slaverv laws, how many citizens are 
there vyho profess tobelieve the bible, and to recognize the ortho- 
doxy of its ethical principles, that are honestly of opinion that 
the war now vvar:ing against the poor Seminole fivjians. does 
not meet the a])probation of ihe Prince of Peacf? Probably as 
many as rinely-nine in a hundred of both clergy and laymen. — ■ 
And yet, h.ou-evei the diMVrcnt denominarions of our clergy may 
disagree on other points, they all airrec in leiiing this sin go uii- 
rebuked. The same Jesuitism which guides the councils of Eu- 
ropean potentates, and is there restricted to a narrow and ex- 
clusive circle ofcourtiersand placemen, is here dilTased and sown 
broad-cast, among the mass of the people. It is, in fact, worse 
here than there. At a European court, vice is gilded and ini- 
quity refined; but here, the very idea of the ballot box, now 
brings with it, to the moral olfactories of every conscientious 
man, ''the ranke-^t compound of villanous smells." Politics ere 
gro.ving more and uiore of a f^ircc. and the few remaining Chris- 
tian? who prestTve their political consistencv by i'ollowing their 
party ''through eviiand through good report," as it is profanely 
termed, almost gicrgle in thf.'ir sleeves, across the communion 
tabic, at the devices, tlie intrigues and the false nretenees prac- 
tised on eacli other, through theorfian presses and oih^-rwise, to 
gulllhe honest and simple minded voter. And not unfrequently, 
the influence wjiich c! urch membership confers, pays its yiarty 
tax for till- purpose, under the belief that all is aii'in politics, 
while the good man in the pulpii observes a koovv'ing silcn-je, 
and prudently avoids touching tiie "e.rc''7/??g- subject," from a 
fear that he may accidentally commit the unpardonable sin of 
jostling a party organization, which he v/ell knows to be corrupt 
to the core. 

It is o.f'ten asked why the missionary labors, which have been 
so zealously extended, thcf-e lifty years past, do not meet with 
the same success with which those of the immediate successors 
of the apostles were crowned. We protestants Dgree that the 
age of miracles had then cea^^ed, and that Christianity, as a sys- 
lem of moral truth, was left in the hands of its appointed mini§- 



75 

ters and votaries, to find its way into the hearts and under 
standings of the Pagan world v/ith no other than the natural 
agencies and apparatus which out missionaries now enjoy. — ■ 
Besides these, the modern missionary has the advantage of the 
arts and scienci-s of civilized life, v/hich are all confessedly, in ft 
gteateror less degree, the handmaids of gospel truth. The pre- 
sent missionattes have al'iolh? innumerahle facilities resulting 
from the ati of printing, in multiplying Bibles and expositorie? 
of Bibles and elementary works for the young and unenlighten- 
ed. Th'. y have also, we doubt not, as much evangelical zeal 
and hoiest dtrotionin carrying forward the great enterprise. 
Doctor Paley, in bis Evidences of Chis'ianity, shev/s very con- 
clusively, on a minute and circumstantial comparison, that the 
modern missionaiy has decidedly saperior advantages to the 
primitive. Why, therefore, si;ch a lamentable contiasl in thn 
result of their labors ? M?. Paiey answeis this question by say- 
ing that ''they possessed means of conviction which we have 
not; that they had proofs to appeal to vv'hich we want." I think 
a much better one mi^fht be aive. We have all the external 
proofs necessary to combat ih^:^ most ingenious infidelity, a^i he 
has himstlf shevv.i, and a,? the history of the last half ceijiury 
has abundi-ntly evincei.\ w)ih;>ut opening the Bible; besides our 
means of oonviclion and proofs, so far as relates to externa! evi- 
denct', ar^ the last branch of the subject that we look into our- 
selves and were probably as l.'.lle attended to by the illiterate 
heathen in thai day as in this. It i,> the internal evidence, the 
moral beauty of om- reliaion, ar 1 its trutii lo nature, that convin- 
ced and converted the illiteratj Roman mind. Like their apos- 
tolic predecessors, they spoke not with the enticing words of 
men's wisdom. but with the derr.onst;ations of the spirit. My an- 
swer to the question n'ould be, ib.at modern Chtisiianity presents 
in its fruits a diflVrenl aspect to the heathen world, and has a 
different moral character from the aneien? ; that if it could by 
changing its name, (as political parties sometimes Jo,) get rid 
of itr, present character, it would be an excell'jrJ stroke* of evan- 
gelizmg policy. Tacitus, a'sd hi-j contemporary Suetonius, spoke 
of it as an execrable superstition, but that is no worse a charac- 
tert'ian abolitionism now receives fron) the Tacitus ajd Sueto- 
nius of this d'ty, who are as ignorant of its chaiaeter, and whose 
denimcialions have just abort the same measure and kind of in- 
fluence in checking its progress. But modjtfrn Christianity has 
a long catalo^iue of giant sins to repent of. Foi three hundred 
years past, she has been irriawing like a vulture on the vitals of 
Africa, and teaiing from her bosom hpr sons and her daughters, 
to supply the Christian slave markets. Since she first rallied 
under ihv lubantm of Constantine, she has waged near two hun- 
4red wars, many of which were for couquesiand iheacquisitiop 



7S 

t>-f ttfiritory, some toaniye at a more logical construction of trea- 
ues, and some to scllle ihe question who should be the defend- 
Vra of her faith, by succession to the crown. According to the 
best statistics that we have, Christendom, with a population of 
little more than 200,000.000, maintains, even in time of peace, a 
physical fore p, of frorn three io four millions of soldiers, or about 
one soldier to every seventy souls, while moral suasion is so 
far advanced in the Celestial Empire of China, tiial with a popu- 
lation of 361.000,000, she his onlv 80,000 regular soldiers, be- 
sides 700,000 miiiiia or citizen soldiers, being one soldier to eve- 
ry 4512, or including the militia, one to every 463 inhabitants. 

The sword of Christian ferocity is only whetted by her advan- 
ces in the arts and sciences of what she calls civilized life, and 
Great Britain, who gives religion, and philosophy, and laws, and 
literature, and lan:;u;:ge, to the greater portion of what is deem- 
ed the enlightened v/orld. grins iil^e a mastiff, eager for the car- 
nage, and tiie signal to cry ''havoc, and let slip the dogs of war." 
Her lion and her unicorn are always rampants She saith among 
tlie trumpets, ha ! ha ! and smelleih the battle afar off. Her de- 
fenders of the faith, from Henry the eighth to Victoria the first, 
have been swift to execute the commission, ^Uirlst and devour 
much jiesh)'' Her war estahlishment and her church establish- 
ment are twin sisters. Tht-y have grown up in each other's bo- 
som, and fattened on the nation's strength, till they have become 
prodigies in the eyes of a wondering world. Her sovereigns, 
in coalition with her other church dignitaries, have profaned her 
otherwise Divine liturgy, with a tissue of state prayers, teaching 
her people, among other invocations, to pray that God may 
strengthen her king, ''ihai he may vanquish and overcome all 
his enemies :" a petition more properly addressed to Woden 
than to the Prince of Peace, and which, fortunately for my or- 
thodoxy, was expunged from the American liturgy. When the 
Pagan sees Christ arrayed asrainst Christ, and cross against 
cross, as on the field of VVaterloo, what opinion can he form of 
the gospel of peace? When he casts his eye along the bloody 
trail of the Russian campaign, and sees the "ocean of flarae'* 
bursting from the city of Moscow, what definition does it give 
hira of the tender mercies of Christianity? It is in vain for us 
to presume on the ignorance of the heathen v/orld of the national 
kins of Christians. The wailingsof bleeding Africa have been 
borne on the trade winds to the endi of the earth. The sympa- 
thies of man for man, unfortutiately for our religion, Course up 
ind do\Vn, and circumnavigate the great circle of humanity. — 
The myriads of Christian swords and bayonets that have been 
baptized in blood, the legions that have been slaughtered ia the 
name of Christ are not unknown to Pagan tradition. 

Our missionaries may go to heatbea lands, and there b€ p«r- 



77 

isitted to proclaim, what they dare not do at home, that surh 
acts, though done in the name of ''most Christian" kin^s, are in 
fact not in accordance with the gt^niu.j of the gospel. With such 
a Waylandism, Christians may be gulled, but the less sophisti- 
cated heatJien mind c?nnoi understand that mystery of our faith 
which identitiis moral evil with poliiicr.l righteousness, and re^ 
conciles the national law of war and oppression with the moral 
law of brotherly love. Before opening the gospel, he unfortu- 
nately understands too v.'ell how to judge the tree by its fruits, 
and that figs are not gathered of thorn^;, or grnpes of thistles. 

Hear the reason assiirned by the Chinese Emperor foi refu- 
sing to admit Christianity into bis empire: '-Because," said the 
Emperor, "wherever Christians go. they whiten the soil with 
human bones." "Why do you come to' us?" said a Turk, at 
the city of Jerusalem to Mr. Wolf, the missionary who lately 
visited this country. The missionary answered, ''to bring vou 
the gospel of peace." "Peace!" replied the Turk, leading Mr, 
Wolf to a window, and pointing him tn Mount Calvary, "there," 
said he, "on that very spot v/hete your Lord poured out his blood, 
the Mohammedan is oblii^ed to intt-rCcre to prevent Chiisliana 
shedding the blood of each other." 

Modern Christianity mayput on her smooth face, and tell the 
world how much she has miiigated the horfors of war. She 
may boast that she no longer supf.lies her slave markms from 
prisoners taken in battle, but that sh'^ resorts to the more benig- 
nant practice of rearing, or, (to speak more technically.) "<iro7r^ 
»72g-" them in her own folds. She mny lead us through her ar- 
senals, and shewus that the poisoned arrow is not there. She 
may boast the beauty of her gunpowder missionaries, over the 
heathen javelin, sent to deal death to the distant victim, in the 
shape of balls, bombs and shells. A^rainst these and a few other 
vaunted ameliorations on which she plumes herself, pitiful as 
they are. Paganism has an ample set-off to niRke against Ameri- 
can Christianity. Heathen brutality may be challenged, and 
not a Pagan fiend that ever passed the Styx, dare accept it, of 
having introduced an engine on the theatre of war, so horrible, 
or so dastardly, as the unleashed bloodhounds, lately imported, 
to dispense the cb^mencies of Christian warfare among the in- 
mates of the Seminole wi2:wa 



m '. 



It is generally supposed that it requires a course of mental disr 
cipline to elevate the heathen mind, preparatory to its reception 
of gospel truth. I think that we have much evidence that men- 
tal degradation is the soil best adapted to receive the seed of 
our mongrel reliriion— that the sinks of fetichism is the good 
ground that yields its thirty, sixty, and its hundred fold. As n 
proof of it, we see that the Christla.a mi<5sionary has been much 
more successful in evangelizing the abject Hottentot than lUe 



78 

high minded American Indian. One would naturally suppo»« 
that a soul that soars on so lofty a wing, as does the Aboriginal 
American, in his bold untutored flights of eloquence, would be 
admirably adapted to embrace the sublime truilis of revelation, 
as poured forth from the inspired pen of Isaiah and David, or as 
depicted in the burning words of Jesus Christ, or the apostle of 
the Gentiles. Far different, however, is tiie lesson of experi- 
ence. He unfortunately knew Christians before he understood 
Christianity. He has, to his sorrow, seen too much of the Chris- 
tian's political morality; he has witnessed too much of our fraud, 
our carnage, our slavery, and the international loving kindness 
and tender mercies of Christian nations towards each other, and 
towards the human lace. He may listen, as he does, with con- 
templative devoutness of mind, to gospel iruth, and admire its 
beauties, but after deliberate rcfl;^ctioii and a careful examination 
of its fruits on the nation's embracing it, we must not blame 
him, neither his God nor our God will blamo him, if he suspect* 
that the supposed angelic choir, whose voice greeted the ear of 
the shepherds of Bethlehem, as they were watching their flocks 
by night, were tantalizing the hopes of poor foilorn humanity, 
and were indulging in the sports of sardonic irony, and although 
the Great Spirit, which his mother taught hi:n to adore, may 
not hold out such big promises— -may not boast so his^h of peace 
on earth and good will to men, nor enrapture his soul with such 
good tidings and great joy to all people, yet it whispers to his 
firober second thoughts, of 

"Some safer world, in depth of woods embraced ; 
Some bappifr Island in the watery v/a?te, 
Where slavus once mare their nativ? land b"hoId ; 
No fieiids toraient, no Chxistiaks thiist for gold, 

There are three modes by which religion Is propagated. One 
is by educational prejudice, by which I mean the instilling of 
opinions, whether true or false, into a yciing or unreflecting 
mind, by -ipse ducit auihonty. The second i^, by addressing 
the interest of the prosolyte. This includes all the appliances, 
whether coercive or suasive, that are en^iployed to generate a 
motive to embrace the relio:ion, foreign to the merits of the reli- 
gion itself. The third is, to assail the mind nud soul with such 
independent and forcible armaments, drawn from the reli^-ion it- 
self, as will produce a practical conviction of its truth, irrespec- 
tive of foreign influences This last was the only mode which, 
in the cxigencv of the times, the early Chri^fains had in their 
powyr, and instead of being assisted tiy the other two, was used 
in defiance of them, till the days of Constantine. Since then, it 
has been mainly propagated by the two former modes, and the 
efforts to propagate it in the primitive mode, have been almost 
aa entire failure. In this remark, I ought, peihaps, to except 



79 

t\iQ recent success of our missionary labors in the Sandwich 
Islands, but a glance at the map of the world will show, that 
auccess in a spot so peculiarly sequestered and remote from the 
the din of Christian havoc and strife on the two continents, is 
only illustrative of my theory, and encouraging for our missiona- 
ries to search for some other remote "Isles of the sea," in equal- 
ly blessed ignorance of the political ethics of our religion. But 
why thegeneral failure ? Truth is eternal, and the human mind 
has the same facullies to receive it in all ages. There must be 
a more deep rooted and mighty cause for ihis moral phenome- 
non than the differences in the flitting and fluctuating supersti- 
tion of the day with which the Pagan mind may be overcast. — 
Gospel truth has proved itself to be as omnipotent as mathemati- 
cal trulh, and much more easily instilled into the human minrf. 
Euclid does not have to waich time and tide, or consult the ca- 
prices of his pupils in order to find a lodgment of his abstractioiis 
in the human mind. If one can chase a ihcusand, and two put 
ten thousand to flight, why cannot two hundred millions at once 
loute Paganism and infidelity from the face of the eaith ? The 
folution of this vitally interesting but unheeded mystery, is found 
in the facts above exhibited, shewing that our religion is alloyed 
so basely as to have bst its pristine ductility. Nature and na- 
ture's God, abhor a mongrel. When the miscreated mule, (the 
offspring of human fraud on Divine law,) shall sympathise with 
its foilorn mate, and bring forth after its kind, then may we ex- 
pect that an oxide of Christianity will flow till it have the hea- 
then given It for an inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the 
earth for a possession. 

Nor is this all the mischief growing out of ihe subordination 
of Christianity to political power. Our religion is not oniy bar- 
ren, but she is a self-destructionist. She teaches us to search 
the Scriptures, to reason together with God, and to worship Hira 
with all our minds ; but she also teaches us, through the tradition 
of her elder*, that Caesar, ibe grcai head of the church, can do- 
no wrong — that the confederation of the despots of Europe is a 
Holy Alliance— that national iniquity becomes sanctifled by its 
own enormity — that v^'hile ''one muider makes a villain, a ihou- 
8and makes a hero" — that to pick a pocket, or to rob a house, is 
an ignominious felony, but if, at llje bid of Csesar, ihtee millions 
of fellow beings are stolen from themselves, so as to leave them 
no pocket to pick, no house to rob, our religion teaches us to 
look on with complacency, and ape Job in pious resignation, by 
saying, in effect, "Csesar gave, and Csesar hath taken away : 
blessed be the name of Csesar." 

This state of things is too solemn for satire, too grave for 
irony. The infidel must not be told, as he has often been, by a 
Janus-faced and double-tongued Christianity, that she is not U> 



80 

^e judged by her fruits—that though she has a practicai religion^ 
which is iudefencible, she has a theoretical one which is pure 
and holy. The common law and common sense doctrine of 
estoppels, is a part of the go«pel, and the infidel has a righteous 
claim to say to her ministry, out of thine ountnonth will I con- 
demn thee. The rebuked Vaults ol' Christians are indeed no part 
of Christianity, hut the doctrines of her ministry, and the tolera- 
ted conduct of those \vhom she clothes with her highest titles, 
she must defend or surrt riuer her claims to the infidel objector. 
•Christians are greatly deluded if «h(y think that cur religion has 
gained a triumph over that spirit of infidelity which burst out in 
ihe French Revolution. Htr champions marshalUd her histori- 
cal vouchvrs, and htr external evidences, so as to make assurance 
doubly sure, of Ihe authenticity of her pretensions, and the genu- 
ineness of htr claims to a Divine Revelation. The consequence 
was, that historical infidelity has been thoroughly and signally 
routed. But in its stead, has {-prong up a practical infidelity, 
which, without being [ropagated, has v.'ithin the lasi fifty years, 
spontaneously spread ilselF over the public mind, faster than 
any relision, true or false, that ever existed. We have no statis- 
tics by which to measure its progress, but the candid reader will, 
I doubt not, in casting his eye over the circle of his acquaintance, 
agree with me in saying, that these who yield llieir assent to the 
ruthenticily of the l^ible, as a Divine Revelation, but do not 
pretend to embrace it as such, are more numerous than all the 
open infidels and professing Chrij-tiansecmbined. This kind of 
infidelity was hardly known before Cinistianity became a politi- 
x'al implement. A mere historical faith world never have en- 
dured the tests of persecution to which Christianity was exposed 
before the reign of Constnntine, but since then, it has prevailed 
loan extent, proportioned to the intelligence of the age, and the 
freedom of the intellect from the shackles of prejudice. Ignor- 
ance is as emphaiicallv the mother of devotion in Protestant as 
in Catholic Christendom. This tenet can never be honestly 
discarded, till we discard political Christianity. We may in- 
vent what new measures we please, we may construct our anx- 
ious seats, and continue our protracted meetincs — our animal 
fears may be alarmed, and our nervous sensibilities excited, by 
all the niachinery which honest zeal can invent— our old fash- 
ioned churchmanship may vie with our new fnngled revivalism 
— both may boa«t of their distinriive merits, and their peculiar 
fruits; but the God of Truth will not peimit his unsophistica- 
ted image to be deluded by a pious fraud or a holy romance.— 
We may cry aloud, and cut ourselves with knives, and withlarj- 
cets, till'lhe' blood sush out, but our labors are vain, our zeal is 
misguided. Elijah's God does not sit on a divided throne, with 
Cffisar. If we desire the burnt sacrifice to be consumed, and th« 



81 

^re from lieaven lo lick up the water that is in the trench, the 
expanded mind and the enlarged soul must commune with its 
prototype, in a God, who claims, and must receive a homage, 
'far transcending that due to the principalities and powers of 
earth. In every well balanced mind, a living faiih must be a 
rational faith. It may lianscend. but must never thwart the 
•equally divine, though irnperfecily developed functions of rea- 
son. Cnrisiinniiy is often derided for its puritanism, by the 
dissolute. This is a species of per.secutivjn which it may always 
expect to encounter, and from which it should never shrink, and 
is to b'j regarded as a heahhy svmptom. But when it is im- 
peached by either open or covert infidelity, for its inferiority to 
that moral law which natural reason has established, it ought 
never (otake umbrage in ifs mysteries, nor cant about iheinabi- 
:3ity of the carnal mind to comprehend its ethical principles. 

T'le practical infidelity here referred to, is no enemy to Chris- 
4ianity. It tasfs itself to build her churches, sujiport her minis- 
ters, and it upholds all her institutions, by its moial. as well as 
pecuniary patronage. But in all this, it is prompted by no high- 
er motivv! than the expediency whicli the statesman sees in the 
cultivation of sohrietv or honesty among" the massofihe people. 
It is glad to see an effort mqde to unite the fragments of so much 
raiuable morality into a system of public religion ; but to an eye 
that commands the whole iabric, the beau ideal is wanting — 
the tout^e.nsfjmhle. iho perfect whole is not there. Nothing is 
seen in the light she sheds, to induce men to glorify their Fa- 
ther which is in Heaven. She libelously charges the fault of 
her rejection, to the depravity of ihe human heait, never sus- 
peclin£r that tlie beam is in her own eve. Human nature and 
our religion are both deplorably fallen. The one is our misfor- 
tune, the other out fault. The one is a hereditary disease, the 
other a sovereign remedy, a heaven-prescribed specific. If it 
fails to eff.'ct a cure, the fault is neither in ihe disease nor in the 
remedv. for the one was adapted to the other in the secret coun- 
sels of Divine VVisdoni, but it is in the empiricism of the admi- 
nistering physician, practised in the ecclesiastical laboratory. — 
Human nature and Christianity were alike perfect and holy 
when they came from the hands of their Author, but both are 
now sadly mutilated, and by the same means, and that means is 
.she best, m.ost comprehensive, and only perfect definition, of all 
ihesintiiat has resulted from such mutilation, viz.: substitu- 
ting HUMAN ei-:pedie?^gy for Divine law. Whether the good- 
ness for iood of the fruit of the tree of life, its pleasantness to 
•the eyes, and its desirableness to make one wise, were heavier 
in the balances of human expediency, when held by Eve, than 
were the attractive facinations which allured Christianity to rally 
:amder the laharum ; or whether the serpent's Jesuitism wa';^ 



82 

meie subtle than Constantiiie's, are questions which we hare 
no lational means of answering. Whether the one victim or 
the other, suffered the greater wreck in these two grand catas- 
trophes, is 1 problem, which I must leave for those to solve who 
can carry their mathematics into the science of morals, but mine 
is limited lo the science of quantity. I can demonstrate on the 
black-board, that the half loaf is better than no b»-ead, but I can- 
not prove t!iat a fifth-sixths honest man is either beiier or worse, 
greater oi less than a knave, or that a deliberately nine-tenths 
Christian is either more or less orthodox than a confirmed repro- 
bate. The fragments of a broken integrity, like those of a bro- 
ken pitcher, may be pretty playthiugi lo amuse children in the 
School of human expediency, but they £.re alike nugatory ia the 
eyes of Him v/ho says, ^'be ye perfect, even as your Father 
which is in Heaven is perfecL'^ Our religion may carry her 
vulgar fractions into the sanctuary, and employ a nanow minded 
bigotry to cement them together. She may decimate her deca- 
logue by expunging the commandment, "lliou shah, not kill," ad- 
ding to it, ''unless in cases of wholesale murder," but unfortu-. 
nately for such a religion, humair sagacity shrinks back n'ith in- 
slmctive infidelity and distrust, ^vhen it sees the broken arch in 
the bridge. Christianity has long been telling us, through the 
tradition of her elders, that she is at work purging the church of 
political iniquity, by her indirect influences; but the statistical 
tables shew that she has never yet gained any thing by this cir- 
curaventive action, and it is devoutly to be hoped, for her own 
sake, that she never may. In the circumgyrations she has been 
making, round the citadel of poliiical iniquity, she fancies thai 
she is gradually dissolving tlie bands of wickedness, Vt/hile to the 
eye of the spectator, she is only demonstrating !ier own duplicity , 
by exemplifying the principle, (as true in moral ag in mechani- 
cal action,) that a body moving in a curvilinear path, is govern- 
ed by a double impulse, and is otrivincr to yield a cciijoined obe- 
dience to ils centripetal and its centrifugal deities. 

I must not be understood to say that none butsecondary minds 
embrace our religion. Facts would by no means warrant the 
assertion. Modern Christianity can justly number among her 
sincere votaries, intellectual stars of the first magnitude; niind.H 
that will ever he held in deserved ven-^ration for profound and 
acute research in physical and metaphysical and some depart- 
ments of moral science. Those minds, however, seem either to 
have overlooked, or purposely shrunk, with a kind of superstitious 
awe, from any other than an incidental side glance at the dark- 
ened corners of Christian science, which lam seeking to explore. 
Some of them have expended much ingenuity in building ujv 
theories of natural ethics, on some other than the gospel plat 
form^not indeed directly adverse to it, but what is moie pre* 



83 

sumptuous, independent of it. Aristotle defined virtue to be 
*'the medium between nvo extremes." Those Christian Doc- 
tors who are so prone to sound the alarm of uHraism, would do 
well to enquire w!i?ther they are not indebted for this propensi- 
ty, to the lore of the heathen do^rmnlist, huilr on this indefinite 
and fluctuating definition, rather than the inflexible and less 
popular lessons of Him \viio taught as one having authority. 

The history of public opinion in Christendom, ever since the 
days of Constantine, has been a history of one continuous hub- 
bub of the elements of our moral nature. Iihas not been a war- 
fare between ihefli^sh and the spirit. The sospel defines the 
parties belligerant and the weapons employed in conductinij that 
war loo accurately, and every one who surveys the battlefield in 
his own breast. m:-i3t understand its operations toQ easily to mis- 
take its character. But the warfare to which I allude, is a battle 
royal, in which the attributes of the immortal spirit are struggling 
with each other. It is a combat between reason and religion — 
between devotion and philosophy — between living faith and 
Christian un'ty. The devastations of thi^ warfare are seen in 
the schisms which h ive rent in iVagmimts the once holy and un- 
broken church; in the oscillations of the iiuman mind, to and 
fro, between implicit credul.ty and universal skepticism, between 
lifeless formality and sen?eless enthtniasm, between monastic 
supeistition and proud infidelitv. The human intellect, after 
awaking from the stupor of a2:es into which it had been thrown 
by the opiates of a crafty prii'sthoo I, revolts at an absurd Chris- 
tianity, and seeks refuge in skepticism. After being whirled 
about in the giddy vortices of Cartesian ])hilo3ophy, after reas- 
oning the material '.vorld.and then itself, into the non-entities of 
a Berkeley and a Hut'ie, it returns .^irain in its uncouth career, 
a disconsolate and weary pilgrim, and a^ain seeks repose in a 
religion, the utility of which it has learned to appreciate, and the 
deformities of which it enileavors to wink at. but a living or prac- 
tical failh, in which it strives in vain to vield. 

The doctrine first openly broached by Hobbcs, and nowadvo- 
calpd by our Henry Clays, that morality is a creature of legisla- 
tive enactment, has oft.-n b'^pn cavilled v.Mth in theory, but oft- 
ener ''sanctioned and «:anctified" by Christian practice. Mod- 
em Christianity casts jusi light enousr'i on the human mind to 
enable it to see her deformity. It exhibits moral beauty enough 
to enable us to see that it is a temple not made with hands, but 
the symmetry of its c':'lestial architecture i^ marred by the chisel 
and the hammer of human ingenuity. Like the sun, laboring 
under an annular eclipse, it cists on our sublunary vision a faint 
and sickly ray, just enouah to betray its native refulcrence, and 
awaken the sympathies of nature to its deep humiliation. 

The most desperate expedients have been employed to allay 



84 

this moral warfare. Human reason lias been bound hand and 
foot, and fluncr as an oblation on the altar of peace. The free 
thinker is a denounced outlaw in church and state. Radicalism 
is sedition in politics, in religion, schistn. The beauties of a 
theory are the sport, of practical expediency In all the affairs of 
life. The unsophisticated youth, in op( nini: Lis eyes on the 
world, and indulging- his enthusiastic vi>ion. in contemplating a 
beau idealoi moral beauty, is sarcastically rebuked by the max- 
ims of prudence, the proverbs ofnge, and the sophisms of world- 
ly wisdom, and every generous im.pulse of his soul is tamed 
down, till he can cornpiehend the logic of a sneer, and appreci- 
ate the poetry of a scovv'l. The meeting of extremes is prover- 
bially a common place occurrence. Iti the bosom ofthe greatest 
liberty is cherished the most oppressive slavery, and the most 
malevolent misanthropy is sanelilied by the m(..->i benevolent 
religion. If we could append the Malioincinn's co-:imentary on 
his Alcoran to our gospel, it wotild advar.ce us ot)'- "...int, at least, 
in brotheily love, for while Christian is |)t'H'ii; ed to enslave 
Christian, it is not lawful for Tuikto enslave Turk. 

There is one riiaster passion in the htmnn br;;:rt, ^Yhieh has 
never been fully understood, nor properly rebuked, to which all 
the evils and inconsistencies I have iiiutul at, owe a filial re- 
gard. It is the love, or rather the lust of dominion. The lead- 
ing o!)ject of Christianity was to subline this p>!ssion. The oth- 
er moral duties enjoined by the gospel, appeared quite rational, 
and were tolerably well understood by the liirlil of nature. But 
it was t'ae c.'ucilixion of this hydra ; it was the apparent solecism 
of the prrcept, '"he thai exallelkhiinself shall be abased^ and 
he that humbleih himself shall be e.vdlU'd,''^ that more than any 
thing else, rendered the gospel a stumblin£r 1. lock to the Jews 
and to the Greek's foolishness. The disciple^, ibemselves, were 
apparently very dull scholarc; in this branch of Christian Science. 
The mother of Zebedee's childri^n was confounded at it. The 
disciples were am:.zed when he answered their question, who 
was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, by setting u little 
child in the midst of them ; nor could they con)prehend the phi- 
losophy, which he illustrated by cjirding himseli" with a towel to 
wash their feet. A kingdom of this woild, wiih aU its pomps 
and vanities, upheld by military power and sjdendor, was con- 
stantly dancing before their vision. They wi re slow in learn- 
ing that the meekshould inherit the earth, or ihat the mfluence 
of moral purity, in its elementary simplicity, v.as more potent 
than legions of armies, and all the d.r/ziinrj accompaniments 
with which a debased earthly court is surrounded. The great 
political secret which the Divine Tactician came to inculcate, 
was the substitution of moral truth for brute force and dumb 
show. His mode of warfare is not to controvert the strength 



85 

of animal tnmclcs. Such irrelevant issues he leaves to be ad= 
judicated in t!»eir appropriate tribunal, where tigers and wolves 
are suitors, and wh.^re tlie lion Jiolds the ofTue of chic-f justice 
by Divine appointment. His mode of battle is to paralyze the 
arm that has saiitten one cheek, by turning the other also,' and to 
hurl a thundeibilt home tj the soul of hi, antagonist, in the 
shape of a bL^ssini returned in exchange for a curse sent. — 
With the heavy artillery of heaven, he teaches us to storm the 
inmost citadel of the man, and awe the image of God into trem- 
bling submission, and instinctive homage to its Divine original. 
If the soldiers of the cross would but drill themselves in this 
martial exercise, and vie with eac!i other in its heroic achieve- 
ments, the promise ihat all power should be given them, would 
be speedily fulfilled, and tiiey might, like Alexander, Aveep that 
there was no more v/orlds to conquer. God's omnipotence is 
copiously imparted to ''ihs divinity that stirs within us." It is 
not only a communicable, but a highly contagious attribute. — 
The conquests which virtue makes over vice in the use of such 
weapons, thouzh wiekb'd by an arm of flesh, is but a different 
manifestation of that j'ower which the prophet saw, when the 
tents of Cushan vverc in afiliction, and the curtains ofthe land of 
Midian did ireml)le. 

However hard and rare it may be for an individual, beset with 
his constitutional infirmities, and encompassed with his peculiar 
temptations, to acquire eminent strength and skill in the use of 
such armor, it is an easy thing for a nation, in its political capa- 
city, and especiallv a rep'i!)lican nation, to do so, and to walk 
with God as literally as did Enoch of old. It js not an easy 
thing for a Christian to walk in all the commandments and ordi- 
nances of the Lord blameless; but it is an easy thi^ig fur him to 
sav to his representative, '-'in luling over men, thou must be just, 
ruling in the fear of GoJ." It may be peculiarly hard for a mi- 
nister of state to renounce h's private sins; but it is peculiarly 
easy for him, (when conscious that the tenure of his office de- 
pends on it ) on ascending to the diplomatic desk, to tay to his 
fellow minisf'r, '"my master in heaven, and rav master on earth 
have both in-tracteJ me that the fear ofthe Lord is the bcgia- 
tiing of wisdom, and that the solid glorv of ihe nation which I 
represent, and the national honor, deemed by us immortal, and 
■•which mu5t be preserved inviolate, consists in suffering: wrong 
Tather than doing wrong." If, instead of bullying eae.Ii other 
like a brace^ of bloodthirsty duelist-^, our ministers would make 
the spirit of the gospel the basis of diplomatic ne2:otijtion, the 
most menacing symptoms of war would vanish, and the flourish 
of swords and daggers would subside with as little mischief, as 
resulted from the gusty controversy between Brutus and Cas- 
tiius. The contest between us and Great Biilain, now pending, 



86 

respecting the disputed Territory, would at once generate a dist 
pute, who should accept it, and nation would vie with nation in 
diplomatic magnanimity, throughout the heathen as well as the 
Christian world. 

One other view of this great subject, and I have done. It is 
a common maxim, that inasmuch as nations have no future stale 
they are visited wiih condign punishment here. I am notaware 
of any canon in either natural or revealed theology, to support 
this opinion, lather than the gc^neral principle that ihe councils 
of the wicked have in themselves the element of their own de- 
composition; that unless the moral law be changed, every hu- 
man institution hostile to if, must, by an obvious necessity, have 
its old age and dissulution. But be this as it may, we ceitainly 
have neither scriptural nor common sense autiioriiy for the opi- 
nion, that the sins we commit in our social or polilical capacity, 
will meet with more indulgence in the dny of judgment than our 
private and peculiar sins. Hjwever our optics may be mystifi- 
ed by the' leg-ardem'ani of a monopoly, we cannot give iniquity 
a charter, maivc a dividend of the profits, and then tell the Al- 
mighty that it was the impersonal, tin' bodiless and soulless ?7, 
and not we, tliat sinned, and that Divine justice must wreak 
itself on a political fiction. We cannot, as stockholders in the 
national commonwi^alih, go to the polls, vote for a constitutional 
complement of directors, and through these directors wage war, 
enactor enforce slavery laws, and then say to the Almighty in 
the day when he shall make an inquisition for blood, "it v/as lY, 
and not i/;e, that slaughtered our brethren ; it was ?7, and notice,, 
that beat thy people to pieces, and ground the f^cesofthe poor." 
The common law of all nations look=5 on each member of a con- 
spiracy as guilty of all. Can we doubt that this righteous prin- 
ciple of justice is the coriimon Ijw of heaven also? If so, the 
patriotism of citizens which binds them together, when the na- 
tion violaies God's lavv, isa^ false as the honor which prevails 
among a band of thieves, and as little available in the courts of 
Divine justice. Unless this rule can be impeached, everyone 
slain in an unchristian war, is murdered, and every one who 
aids, assists or abets such a war by his suffrage or Jiis counte- 
nance, is the murderer. There is one circumstance, too, which 
greatly aggravates the sins of the organized multitude, over that 
of the individual, it is the absence of a tempting motive. Ju- 
das rnay arise in the day of judgment, and condemn the electors 
of this nation, by saying to him that is touched with a feeling of 
our infirmities, thai the thirty pieces of silver led him into temp- 
tation, but our ballot box sins are on speculation : he served the 
devil for ready pay — we, on credit. 

It is owing to this want of perception of personal responsibili- 
ty for our national sins, that many of the dispensations of Provi- 



87 

dence are accounted so mysterions. It seems hard, that for the 
perversiiv of Pharaoh, whose sic volo was law tl\rou2:hout the 
land of Egyptj that such sore calamities should have hcen dis- 
pensed to his passive suhjects. If the wondrous exhibitioa of 
God's displeasure of political sin, had been confined to the tyrant 
and his privy council, it would not have seemed unreasonable; 
but that It should have extended to all his subjecis— that God's 
wrath should have waxed hotter and hotter against Egypt, aa 
its king's heart grew harder and harder, till the first-born wai 
slain ttiroughoul the land, from the first-born of Pharaoh, that 
sat on the throne, to the firsl-born of the captive, that was in the 
dungeon — that his pursuing armies should have perished in the 
Red Sea — that these, and many such instances, should be re- 
corded, wiiere an unoffending people suffer, with divine appro- 
bation, for the political sins of their rulers, is generally consid- 
ered one of the greatest mysteries of the Bible. But if we re- 
member that the privilege of yielding supreme obedience to 
God. is a reserved right, which he will not permit us to compro-. 
mit, in entering into the political compact; that each for himself, 
must, without taking counsel of circumstances, or political emer- 
gencies, or a corrupted public opinion, in all cases, obey God 
rather than man, wherever we see a divergency of their authori- 
ty ; if \we remember also, that even in the most despotic govern- 
ments, the bone and sinev/, and majesty of political power, is 
made up of the bone and sinew and moral influence of those 
who are loyal to such power, all mystery vanishes. Every hu- 
man being, even in the most despotic sfoveinment?, is held re- 
sponsible for the righteous exercise of his physical power and 
moral influence, (even if he have no other political capital.) and 
is required to withhold them from his sovereign, whenever they 
would be perverted to the commission of political iniquity. — 
Besides these items of political capital, common to all mankind, 
we electors, in our highly favored and highly responsible coun- 
try, are vested, each for himself, with an aliquot share of the 
absolute and uncontrollable sovereign power it.?elf. For the 
righteous exercise of all these powers, (orofsurh of them as we 
TT.ay be vested with,) each one is morally responsible, irrespect- 
ive of the discipline of his party, the commands of his king, or 
the laws of his country. The distinction set up between politi- 
cal and individual sin, will not bear the simplest analytical test. 
We may as well excuse ourselves from moral responsibility for 
sins committed in our conjugal, our filial or our paternal, as in 
our political capacity. We are neither required nor allowed to 
take up carnal weapons, in defeating the political sins of our 
country, nor for any other purpose than in obedience lo the first 
law of nature, self-defence, and this only in cases of extreme 
physical necessity; but we are required to set at defiance aUhu • 



88 

fnan law, in withholding our physical powers, and in aclirelv 
opposing with all our moral and political power, such measure's- 
of our government as swerve from what we believe to be the 
law of perfect holiness, and it is only by taking this course, that 
each one can acquit himself of personal responsibility for the 
political sins of his country. 

Let me not be misunderstood. When I speak of opposing 
zveiy law which deviates from perfect holines?, I mean such 
laws or political measures as are intrinsically or theoretically un- 
holy, or whose end and ain is at some point, other than that of 
absolute perfection, so far as they have a moral character. But 
we must not confound an imperfect design, with thai imper^ 
fection which betrays the erring hand of every thinsr human in 
the execution. It is one thing to adopt as a rule of action the 
theory that a human being shall, (in the language of slavery's 
code,) ''betaken, deemed and reputed to be a chattel personal, 
to all intents, coustructions and parposes whatsoever," and an- 
other thing to fail, in the perfect execution, of the political de- 
sign of equal protection, and meting out exact and impartial 
justice to all. It is one thing in the eyes of tiie searcher of 
hearts, designedly to manufacture a false balance, and another, 
to fail m making one so perfectly true as to enable us to weigh 
the rays of light. The partial evil, the incidental injustice, and" 
the -occasional oppression, growing: out of the inherent imperfec- 
tion of human laws and human administration of perfect laws, 
are rather to be ranked among the imperfections of our nature, 
for which we are not responsible, than to be condemned as mora! 
evils. They bear as little resemblance to slavery laws, or a law 
declaring offensive war, as does the accidental glance of the 
woodman's axe, to the designed stroke of the deadly guillotine. 

Many of our casuists speak o'i political Q\'\h, in contradistinc- 
tion to moral, forgetting that the only proper correlative of poli- 
tical, is individual. For example, there is aclass of abolitionists, 
(so calling themselves,) who deny slavery to be a moral, but ad- 
mit it to be apolitical evil, and propose its removal by purchasing 
of the master the liberation ofthe slave. Now nccording to my 
logic, this proposition is a manifest solecism. If slavery is not 
a moral evil, the only remainincr question is for individuals to 
settle, whether it is a secular evil, or, in other words, a pecuniary 
disadvantage. But the proposed measure of compensating the 
master, supposes thai it is not, and consequently, instead of seek- 
ing its discontinuance, the statesman ought to encourage and 
protect it, equally with every other class of legitimate interests. 
The great end, and as I conceive, the only proper office of gov- 
eraraent, is to extend impartial protection to every man, in his 
itidiridual rights, among which is the pursuit of any vocalioQ 
HOI productive of moral evil, which he may select, and those 



89 

only are political evils which iinp!?do iho cxccuiion of this 
function. 

There is no doubt hut that the worlJ has ever been govprned 
too much — that le^rislative power, in nil its forms,, has a strong 

firopensit}' to CAtend its dominion beyond4he limits of Ifgiiimate 
egislalion. With this evil, the Christian moralist ought not, as ' 
such, to interfere, only in lesisting its encroachments on divine 
law. In all the other usurpations, he ought for the sake of peace, 
not only to render to Cscsar the the things ivhich are Cai3ar's.(bul 
to a very great extent atleast) tho^e heciaims to b" his. When 
the legislature undertakes to regul-ite hy statute the length of a 
coat skirt, or to limit the height o^'a het-l-pike, as they did in 
England under the reign oFEdward the 4ih, it is unquestionably 
the duty of the Christian to obey, however he may, as a politi- 
cian, strive to have so contemptible a badge of despotic power 
expunged from the statute books of his country. 

Political tyranny is very often confounded with slavery. But 
they have very little resemblance to each other — hardlv enough 
to rescue from literary criticism the trite metaphor employed in 
papular harangue, that the subjects of a despot are a nation of 
slaves. . Tlie monarchical theory of government, is based on the 
principle that the king is the source and fountain of political pow- 
fjr, and consequently, rhe popularity or unpopulaiity ofa mea- 
sure of t])e government is reduced to a mere item in the scales 
of legislative expediency. The seventy of despotic poAver 13 
inversely proportioned to the influence which public opinion has 
in the exercise of those discretionary powers ronstituiionally 
lodged in the breast of the sovereign. But the most reckless and 
wanton abuse of this power, is limited in its nature, to tiie ex- 
action of arbitrary taxes, levied against the will of the subject, 
to support the magni:ic:enc? of a court, the dignity of the crown, 
or advance some other political interest, all of which are legiti- 
mate subjects of Legislation. Despotism r's therefore merely the 
abuse of those constilLilional powers which, according to the 
monarchical theory of government, are rightfully lodged in the 
breast of the king. Bnt slavery is very difTerent in its clement, 
its object and its end, Thj slaveholder's power has not the 
most rem.ote connection v.'i'h political power. He may himself 
be the subject of an absolute despotism, the subjerr or a member 
ofa hereditarv aristocracv, ora citizen of a republic^ and his re- 
lation to his slave remains unchanged. Slavery is a mere per- 
sonal or private relation between two human beings. It is the 
relation between the proprii^tor and his property, and has no 
more connection with the afT.urs of state, than the relation be- 
tween the peasant and his donkey. Its element is impersonality 
or chattdlship in the slave, and consequently, it supposes no op- 
pressioQto remove, no encroachment on thcrighisof man, to re- 



90 

jsist, no bereavement of parental, conguqial or other domestic 
relations to redress, because it supposes that there is no man to 
oppress, no rights to encroach, no domestic ties to rend. De- 
spoiisn. is the perversion of constituiionai power — slaveiy, the 
annihihiion of personal rights. The one exacts an unreasona- 
ble portion of the earnings of industry, in order to sustain the 
supposed dignity ol the nation— the other appropriates the whole 
physical, moral and intellectual man, in order to satiate the cra- 
vings of individual cupidity. The character of the one, depends 
on the circumstances of time, place, occasion, and all other ele- 
ments which enter into the science of complicated poiiiical expe- 
diency — the other is as unchanging in its character as the laws 
of God, which it violates, and the innate rights of man, which i^ 
swallows up. 

In wading through the ponderous folios of human legislation^ 
from the rescripts and pai^dects of the Roman Emperors to the 
statu.e? of repuhlicair America, much folly, much exercise of 
arbitrary power is seen, but the Christian moralist will be at a 
loss to put his finger on more than the two moral sins of war and 
slavery, which nations, in their poli'.ical capacity, have ever com- 
mitted. Blackslone defines municipal law to be '"a rule of civjl 
conduct prescribed by the supreme power in a state, command- 
ing what is risht, and prohibiting what is wronsf." With the 
exception of these tv/o sins, this definition has, under all the 
abuses of despotic power, been the recognized guide of the most 
corrupt U'f^islation. These are, in the natuie of things, the only 
sins which political power, in its most greedy desire of domin- 
ion, is under any temptation of committing. In these remarks, 
I do not intend to conimit myself on the vexed question, how far 
the legislature ought to restrain intemperance, licentiousness or 
othei immoralities not definitely aggressive on the natural rights 
of others, and not fising in enora^ity to the height of public nui- 
sances. 

In discussing the subject of this chapter, I conceive that 
I have, Vv'ithout specially designing it, committed ray- 
self on the question now being agitated among abolitionists, 
lespecting the expediency of organizing themselves into a sepa- 
rate political party. The objections to this measure are all based 
on the very natural belief, that politica] power must always re- 
main corrupt, because it always has been— that if our high and 
holy enterprise is carried on through a party organization, it must 
necessaiily become tainted with the pestiferous moral atmos- 
phere which surrounds the ballot-box— that even if we should 
escape contagion, our reputation will suffer, and consequently 
our moral influence, in promoting the cause will be scathed — 
that we must take man as they aie, and not as they should be.— 
To my mind, these last objections savor much of the Jesuitism 



91 

:»f ainst which wc arc warrlnir. Let us rather take God as He is^ 
and His truth as it is revealed to us, and rely on that, and that 
alone, to make men as they should be, and leave the influences 
and consequences of our doing so to be moulded by the hand oX 
a superintending Providence. If the view here taken of the lise, 
the progress, the debasement and check of Christian tiutb, be 
correct, the pathway of duty is luminous with experience. .Clo- 
thed as we are by the grace of God. %vith a portion of the sove- 
reign power, let us rot lie it up in a napkin, but let us in exerci- 
sing it in His fear, exhibit an apostolic unity of counsel and of 
action. Let us above all things beware of rallying round the 
labaruvi, insleRd of the true cross ^hy fastening our holy cause 
to the car of a sub-treasury or an anti-sub-treasury party. Let 
us learn from the secular parlies of the day the only maxim of 
Christian politics which they cultivate, that a house divided 
against ilseifcannot stand. Nor let our heart faint because our 
numbers are yd few. We are either laboring under a great de- 
lusion, or we are striving to span .1 fundamenial truth of Chris- 
tian faith, too big for a mind shrivelled and shrunken and corro- 
ded by our mongrt.l religion to comprehend. Let us, til! unde- 
luded, confide in the omnipotence of truth, and the moral subli- 
mity of our princi])Ies, nor let us compare its progress with that 
of Calvinism or Luthcranism, or Armenianism, or any other 
isms thath.'.ve sprung out of the acrid schisms and fragments 
of a fi'actured and IVangible Christianity; but let us seek for a 
parallel for truth in truth, for purity in purity, and confide in the> 
perfect assurance that, with a Christianity of 24 carats fine, as 
great wonders may be wrought in the 19th, as in the 2d and 3d 
centuries. Let us remember that our truth is not like whig 
truth or ami-whig tr uth, that needs an infusion of falsehood and 
deception to help its propagation ; but it is, m the language of its 
author, like the grain of mustard seed which the man took and 
sowed in his field: it is like the leaven which the woman took 
and hid in three measures of meal. Let us be instant in season 
and out of season, in propagating this truth. Let those that 
fear the Lord speak often one to another about it. Let us ad- 
journ our meetmgs from the church to the polls, from the sanc- 
tum to the sanctum sanctorum. Let our forces be there array- 
ed, in the oneness of that truth which binds us together. Lei 
us there provoke its discussion. Let the American eagle in our 
handbill bear the motto, ''break every yoke— let the oppress- 
ed GO FREE." Let us carefully avoid disgracing ourselves in the 
face of heaven and earth, by nominating or voting for a '^r*?- 
sixths^'' abolitionist, but let our candidate be an unbroken unit, 
not only on the slavery, but the peace, the temperance, and eve- 
ry other question, in which we believe the councils of this nation 
are tainted with moral impurity. In casting about for an availa- 



92 

hie candidiUe, let our nominating caucus, instead of enquiring 
wfio sinq^s iho bi'st Bacclianalian son^, be deeply convcisanl 
with t!u' maxinv which hun^^^upoii tlie dvin<T lips of an anrimt 
political advcnt'irer, who was prtjuioted from the ofTice ol loedcr 
oChis lalluT's fi[)cks lo t!»at of kiiiir of God's cho-ieii people: 
"VVk-; spiiit of the />on/,"' says lie, -K-tpakc hi/ me, and his' word 
xcds in my tons^uc; I he. (torf of Isrncl nahl, the. liock of laracl 
epdkc. to mc, 'Hn that uullth c)vi;u men mi-st v.i: just, kiilino 

IN TMK PEAll OfCIv)D.'" 

With a ticket ihu- mad* out, and ro^rulated in every depart- 
ment of actio;i, hy such poliev, we can soon undelude a much 
ahusc'd, airrt>-:sly libelled pnlilic opinion, and the coriiuion mind, 
in it.5 unsupliisticaled aad rural simplicity, will distance our Ga- 
maliels and our 8olof)s, in rhureh and state, in casting; olVthal 
prejudice, now restinj: on the grandeui of our enterprise, and the 
leasil)iliiy of its f'xecution. 

11' wo are only faithful to our principles, \vc need not wait for 
time or tide or occa-ion, hut we may lake men as they are, as 
God ha3 made lliem, and apply to their minds and consciences, 
truth, as lie has adapted it to these mindi and consciences, and 
h will bring forth it i fruits as abundantly now a.-^ it did 1000 
years ai^o. Our numbers are fast increasing, and will continue 
to increase in .f^eomcfrical proirres^ion, (for that is the ratio l-y 
which such truth mo^-i's.) miles'? we a^ain .make sh'pwreck on 
the same t^hoals wheie Christianity was stranded in the days of 
Euseblus. and an exchange be made of purity for patrona2:e. of 
principle for numbers, a substitution be effected of liuman expe- 
diency for heavenly wisdom, and a coalition forn)ed between a 
corrupt ambition and Christian ttuth. Instead of bendinnf from 
our hi'ih principles to form such an alliance, instead of beinj]^ di- 
verted from a sfrai;^ht line in the j)ursuit of our c^lorious purpo-^e, 
let us say to these professed hi Ipers, but real binderers. as Ne- 
herniah did to Sanball ad and Geshem on a similar occasion, "I 
nm doincj a ^reat \voik,so that Icannot come down ; vhv shonlrl 
the w(nk cea>e whilst I leave it and come down to you?" Wc 
may rely on ii, that politicians will soon find it expedient to 
come up lo our pi inciples, when they arc convinced that wo will 
not descend to theirs. 

Human expediency has already begun its old trade, in seeking 
to split the difl'irenci* with us, and some of our numbers have 
been decoyed from the rank-<. We tuay expect lo lo<e many 
more in the san)e way, in it'^ fiirtluT approximation'^, but this i«i 
Tio cause of despondency. Tomy mind, the rule by which poli- 
tical expediency moves, is as cbarly seen as thai of moral duty. 
Wc are all moie familiar wiih the law3 by which the (lood-wood 
is moved than those by which the tide is raised, and under the 
present state of things, we have sufiicicnl data to speak propbeli- 



93 

cnlly of result-. Tho iwooiganizcd pnrtios aro, forfunatf'ly for 
us, 80 tqiially Ijalanccd, and as n c;)nst'qtiiiu-o of ihal circuin- 
8lancf, so biili-rly hostile to caiii olhiT, iljnta lliI;J pitty, fin- 
chorcd imuiDvahly al the rock of moral principii', and having but 
suflioit'Mt nuMH rical force to equal liie diiT^-Tence Itelween iho 
b'-'lli,'frai)t parties, would I coneeivo, by jin iavarialile rule of 
expedi 'ucy, draw to i I the 'esi«'r party. ;;11 (xlr.iiiccu? circum- 
biaiir -s bciii!;: h'ft out^rtije account. Tlioimh ih'rt* are many 
pro .slavery picjudic^s that woalii ri>" ai^ain^t such a projeei, 
llicre arc \\'\\' iiithcsc norilieni staltu hiii would be more than 
couulerhalanced by lho>:i' toward- the ;jdver.-«' paily, nnd ihese 
few would be balinctd a hundrr-d fidd, by the multifufle. ihal 
would leap from the fellers (;f the oilier |;arly. to c.i>l tluir vote 
for the slave, wiihotil the fear of •'fhro\'; iui: it away," n«» it js 
now considered. Under such circumUatices i (>, the party tacti- 
cians would not iiave to &ir, acraia-i tl»e ?<» ni^eh le.uded virtue of 
'rnnsislcncif — a virtue which ii evidently iriended to adorn 
the ethics of the in«itiniivi', rather than the d'lihi raiive tribe<; of 
animatecKnalure.^ The Tarilf que^siion i< disponed of, the Na- 
lional Ijai.li question is di^i.osed of, (r'or ih<' presen'. at least.) 
and il is lo i)e hoped llic \onji, a;;ilateil Sub-Trea -nry question 
will be disposed of during: the prt^eiil session of Goi)|iress. — 
TIjese vuijjr questions all being settled, the defeai.'d party, 
(whichever it njjy be.) will havt- a beauiiful opportunitv of tar 
kinir up what has Ion;; bjen considered the ^minnr question" of 
hjiuaii chaitel.ship, and will adopt re^ol^^ion:^i:l accordance with 
ours, at tijeir party njeetin;^^. Thi.^^ will result in the national 
issue of slavery and liberty, so far as fecb-ral jjri>diclioQ 
extends, a political i»sue that ought to have bem joined long 
ago. 

So lonij n=; t iihcr party considers n defeat of tl)e adverse party 
more inipori.int than the slavery (piesiion. it is only speculalinu 
on the dereliction of a paity candidate fio:n hi? piinciMles, tocx- 
pecl him to lepiesenl ours. Neailv all noiihern inen are, and 
always were, abolitionist^, when it does nul int-rfere with party 
discipline; but as both parties are eq)i!!y inle)'i!ilv:'d with sla- 
very throuirb their national orijani/aiion, it i-^ !it)[>in^ against 
impossibilities, to expect a representative (if t iiher party, to btf 
true 10 his own parti/ans, and to us also. Tl'.e piaeiiee of ques- 
tioning candidates, seems to nn' i-qaally embarrassing to the 
honest candidate and elector, and calculated to entrap the coa 
:^cience, and compron)ise the piinei|des of both. Ifilbetiue, 
that no n-.an can serve two masters, it must be doubly true, that 
no candidate can be a faithful representative of a party whose 
existence is bound np in slavery, and a patty whose solo bond 
of union is the destruciion of slavery. 

Ills feared that when our ranks are thui increased, sc as to 



94 

^eudei abolitionism a good cfRce-seeking policy, and a majority 
of our numbers are more governed by these motives than a con- 
scientious hatred of slavery, that we must of necessity be deba- 
sed to the ordinary standard of partisan morality. This I con- 
ceive, is not a legitimate sequence. There may be as many un- 
principled politicians and dishonest men in our ranks as in thai 
hi our opponents. Nine-tenihsof our party mav be of this class, 
and yet the parly may be peifectly upright. Such are the ad- 
vantages ofvi)tue over vice, that the other tenth may govern 
ihem, and through them the nation. The magical tactics, 
through which this miniclc is performed under cur aemocratic 
institutions, are in the rigid and uniform application of the long 
disused maxim which should be re:?tored to its phice in the vade 
OTiecMm of every freeman and Christian — '''Never surrender the 
hehn of can science to pcnty discipline, nor sacrifice principle 
to conservaiismy If all the honest men in our country would 
but adopt this maxim, and hold themselves in the attitude of 
''throwing away t!i»'ir votes, and disfranchising themselves," as 
it is absurdly called, whenver their party swerved from the line 
of moral rectitudv^. all power would be subjected at once to their 
control. There is, I doubt not. tenfold more virtue in public sen- 
timent, (debased as this nation appears to be,) than is necessary 
to bring its councils within the pale of perfect rectitude, if it 
w.?ra but properly husbanded, and the Jesuitical spiiit of conser- 
vatism could onlv be expelled. True moral conservatism is, in 
the abstract, neither a means nor an end, but an incident, and 
f>)l!ows truth as faithfully as the shadow follows the substance. 
This is undoubtedly thepolitrcs of heaven. In human afiairs, 
liii; harmony is disturbed by the warrins: elements of individual 
interest, and unreasoning personal pnjudice. These we can 
never be loo forward in compromi-,ing, or even sacrificing on 
thy altar of conservatism. But that kind of conservatism which 
asks the higher sacrifice of an iota of moral principle, is a con- 
spiracy against which every good man should set his face as a flint'. 
Many worthy abolitionists shudder at l!ie tiiought of a politi- 
co! association with the corrupt and unprinciplfd. Thi^Icon- 
( "ive to be a dflicacy whi:h should be subdued. As citizens, 
we have as little to do with \\\e motives of the anti-slavery poli- 
tician, as we have with the motives of those who refrain from 
iheft through policy rather than principle. A'l we have a right 
!o ask, in either case, is correct adion. The sphere of the poli- 
t'cal moralist is limited fo the overt act — that of the social mor- 
alisr, reaches the 73?^en//'on. The office of the one is to teach 
human expediency that ri^rhteousness is profitable in all things 
— that of the other, to inculcate and cherisfi the more heroic vir- 
tue of cutting oiTlhe right hand, or plucking out the right eye,, 
when they offend. 



.95 

In carrying on this revolution, we mu3texp?ct to beat a^ainsE 
fend athwart the currents and counter cuirents of a sordidly uti- 
litarian age. The nearer we draw to us expediency, in it.s ap- 
proximations towards the line of duty, the tnore severely our 
principles will be tested. The more auspicioU) the popular 
breeze, the more intently must the helmsman's eve be bent on 
his chart. This is a trial through which, (according to my theo- 
ry,) Christianity has not yet parsed. V/e have no canonical 
example to guide us i[#the crisi"?. The apostles fell victims in 
the anti-discussion or brick-bat stage of the war between moral 
truth and political power. We have nothing hut the beacon' 
lii^ht of the ever to be lamented Easebian age, and ihe very mi- 
j!iute description St. Paul "ives of the panoply of Christian armor 
with which lie so earnestly insists the soldiers of the cross must 
be harnessed, v/hen they ;\'restle not against flesh and blood, 
but dsrainst principalities, against powers, against the rulers of 
the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high 
places. V/eie I to venture on a somewhat conj-ctural specula- 
tion on the final results of this struggle, I sliould say, that if in 
that soul-trying day, there b;? enough of us, shutting our t-yes 
and ears to the alluring proftl-r ofgieat political irain. for an al- 
most im'percepiible aberraton from principle, to throw the party 
into the minority by quitting it, the nation is safe; otherwise, 
the experiment is a failure. 

Jefferson thought, that the price ofliberty was eternal vigilance; 
whether this is to be the price of national morality, v/hen onc« 
attained, is a problem whieh time only can solve. But Dcing 
once organiz-d, let us not disbaiul till holines.s to Tin: Loud be 
the label of our statute bojk^. and the directory of our exccuitve 
councils— till our courts of justice shall execute. iud^T'nent in the 
morning, and deliver iiim that is spoihd out of the hands of th^) 
oppressor. Instead of abandoning the deeply d-araded and 

band of political inlrigu- 

.ol of I'orinnH. let us se(j 

in It a moral 
v/ith which 

to be done iu .... .,.....- — — .. • i 

siruraentality of which, a nation is to be born in a dav. On th 
arrival of that eventful era, much new knowledge wiil,)n ^-pv^-d^ 
succession, be unfolded to our enraptured vision. Our aposlalR 
race will then have, for the first time, some practiral daia, to 
enable us to determine, whether the winged seraph that took 
with the tongs a live coal from off the altar, and touched the pre- 
viously uncle^an lips of Isaiali, was commissioned by the Ood oi^ 
Truth or the spirit of emp(v bombast— wheth.-r out ot Zion 
shall indeed go foith law, and the word of the Lord from Jeru- 
saietn— whether he shall judge amoug the naiioni, and shall re- 



justly derided American ballot box, to a band of po: 

ams. to be perverted by them into a v.'heel of form.. , .-. 

" t a moral engine, more powerful than the lever of Archimedes, 
th which deeds, such as the earth has never vet beheld, are 
redone in the name of the Lord, and through the mighty m- 

... ■ • I I . _ : _ _ .1 r\.^ iUa 



96 

buke many pt>ople, until they shall bent their swords into plough" 
shaies and their spe.nrs into pruning hooks, and nation shall not 
lift up the sword against nation, neither shall they learn war 
any more — whether the mountain of the liOrd's house shall in- 
deed be exalted above the hill?, and all nations shall flow unto it 
— whether any ihin^- better is meant by kings becominor nursing 
fathers, and queens nursinfr mothers, than the triumphs of Eu- 
ropean despots, under ihe name of the I^oly alliance, in ridinij 
over the n?cksof an oppressed people, partly through thcancilla- 
ry influence of the gospel of peaGi\ and partiy through the agen- 
cy of the ihunderin;'' cannon, the bristling bayonet arid the ram- 
pant wnr-horse — whether the message from Him, whose eyes 
are as a flame of fire, and whose feet are as fine brass, to the 
angel of t!ie cliuich in Thyatira, promising power over the na- 
tions, as a reward for overcoming and for keeping His works 
unto the end, is a responsible i)romise or not — wheiher, in short, 
ihe the many ancient covenants which stud the pages of holy 
writ, and which have been so Ions: in abeyance, announcing the 
joyful influence of the gospel on the political institutions of the 
nations emliracinir ii. are in fact any tiling more than mere 
■^'rr.etorical flourishes" of the pen of inspiration. 

But we can already walk by siofht as well as by faith, in this 
highway. Though yet tlie day of small thinsrs, ihe stately step- 
pings of mornl truth are seen in our own time as well as in days 
ol yore. V/hen the six (Quakers held their fust political caucus 
ia the city of London, on the memorable 7th of July, 1733, ''to 
consider what steps they should lake for the relief and libera- 
tion of the negro slaves in the West Indies, and for thediscour- 
;8genient of the sl-ive trade on the coast of Africa,*' it took them 
several years to earn tr.e reputation of fanatics, in consequence 
of their apparent insignificance. Thi> was the first war waged 
by Christianity sgainst political iniquity, since she had access to 
<he earofCassar, and is an epoch deeply niched in the chrono- 
logical tables of eternity. Instead of twelve, tht-re were but six 
incendiary apostles, tliat with their ^^execrahle superslition,'''' 
undermined the councils of British, as their predecessors did of 
Roman wisdom. They had, too, obstacles of equal, and in ma- 
ny respects, very similar character to contend with. The public 
opinion of Christendofti was against them. The commercial 
interests of the nation, both in and out of pailiament, was con- 
sidered staked in t'le question. Their government, too. compo- 
eedof a rotten borougii apology for democracy in one house, a 
titled independent nobility in the other, and a hereditary mon- 
arch on the throne, was very far from beingsucha mirror of pub- 
lic sentiment as ours. The hard handed and honest hearted 
Jabnrer, whose sympathies for the oppressed are always most 
easily moved, hud no political capital that could be enlisted iq 



97 

Ihe cause. Iq the opinion of Lord North, then Premier the 
slave ^rade had, in a corntnerciai point of view, become necessa- 
jiy to ail the maritime powers of Europe. Under this state of 
? flings, six obscure, unlearned, ineloquenl members of a despised 
iiod politically proscribed sect, meet to devise a scheme by which 
ihe commerce of nations was to be arrested, and the moral world 
revolutionized. Supposing at their first meeting, one of our 
tSmiths, or Stauntons, or Stewarts, or Garrisons, or Tappans, 
had, in his wildest hallucinations, stepped into their little con- 
Tenticle. and hei^rd their plans concocted, their ways and means 
devised, would he not have shaken his head at such mountain- 
removing faith, such demented icUraism? Would he not have 
said to them, "your theory is very beautiful, your ^abstractiojis" 
are sublime, '' hut^^"' would he not have added, (in the language 
of a John Q,. Adams abolitionist,) '^but — public opinion is against 
you— you must take men as they are, and not as they should be." 
Such logic as this, would have been thrown away upon such 
minds. The "o?2e idea''' which constituted the much learning 
that made St. Paul mad, filled their souls. The monomania 
v.'hich prompted Abraham to rise up early in the morning and 
saddle his ass, and take his son Isaac and the cloven wood into 
ihti land of Moriah, afflicted them. 

What was the result? They persevered in their active la- 
bors, unnoticed and almost unknown, till their abstractions ex- 
panded the mind of a Clarkson and a Wilberfcrce. Through 
their agency, the fermentation of the leaven was soon made ob- 
vious. The press became trumpet-tongued to the nation's con- 
science. Petitions were poured in to parliament. Worldly 
power began to tremble. Ail the machinations that human wis- 
dom could devise, were called into active requisition, to put down 
•what the oracles of the British Senate discovered to be a '-hypo- 
critical fanatic and methodistical spirit." The battle grew hot- 
ter and hotter. The maddened genius of despotism was thrown 
into a paroxysm of rage. Cupidity lashed herself into a foam. 
The seers of political expediency, from Lord Chancellor Thur- 
low en his woolsack, to the'hangman at Newgate, saw in pro- 
phetic vision, the future pas-'s before them, in rivers of blood, 
massacres, ruin to the colonies, reduction to the nation's reve- 
nue, decay in her naval strength, and bankruptcy to her mer- 
chants. Lord John Russell denounced the project as ''visicuary 
^nd delusive." The Duke of Clarence, who, afterwards as 
William the 4th, immoitalized his reign by giving the royal 
sanction to the law abolishing slavery throughout the British 
-empire, discoveied, when in the House of Lords, that Wilbei- 
Torceand his associates, were a band of "hypocrites and fana- 
?'.ics,'- and Lord Castlereagh, as late as 1807, in declaring the 
whole counsels of God against this formidabie rebel to public 






98 

opinion and good order, stood bpiween the dragon and his 
wrath, with the word of God in his hand and made a labored 
speech, vindicating the slave trade on scriptural grounds. Nor 
did he stand alone in his struggle, for this article of Christian 
orthodoxy. As early as 1788, (probably the occasion to which 
Hannah More refers,) a pamphlet entitled "slavery no oppress- 
ion," was brought forth by a venal Christianity; and in the 
same year, the Rev. R. Harris was the first to have his name 
formally canonized in slavery's calendar of saints, by writing a 
work entitled "Scriptural Researches on the Licentiousness [lib- 
erty] of the Slave Trade, shewing its conformity with the prin- 
ciples of Natural and Revealed Religion, delineated in the Wri- 
tings of the Word of God." Ten times did the untiring spirit 
of Wilberforce struggle v/ith a martyr's zeal, for the passage of 
his obnoxious bill to suppress the traiiic, and ten times were his 
mighty efforts frustrated. Like an illustrious champion in the 
primitive stages of the same warfare, he was troubled on every 
side, yet not distressed— perplexed, but not in despair— persecu- 
ted, but not forsaken— cast down, but not destroyed. The strife 
was a mortal one, between truth and error, between divine wis- 
dom and human expediency, between the sublime abstractions 
and the concrete tangibilities. At length, the powers of dark- 
ness began to give way. The political weathercocks began to 
turn, an^d Fox and Pitt were made friends, and on the 25th of 
March, 1807, the bill to abolish the slave trade, was passed, and 
thus were exhibited the first fruits of the grain of mustard twen- 
ty-four years after it had been planted by ihe six Q^uakers. Con- 
tinental Europe was next to be inuoculated with the fanaticism. 
After a series ofprotracted diplomacy, treaty after treaty was ef- 
fected, till in 1830, every Christian nation in Europe and Ame- 
rica, prohibited the accursed traffic. In the mean time, the war 
is carried into the very citadel of despotic power, and slavery itself 
is next assailed with the thunderbolts of truth. Never was a 
more striking instance seen of the rampancy of despotism. She 
clung to vitality with a more than feline tenacity, and exhibited 
inste'ad of nine 'lives, ninety times nine. Ac lensfth her requiem 
was chaunted, and on the first day of August, 1334, the sun, for 
the first time, looked upon an empire on which he never sets, 
and saw— NO SLAVE. 

Here the green curtain drops on the tragedy of British slave-^ 
ry, and on a short interlude follows the afterpiece. The corse of 
the demon, yet quivering with life, is consigned to the Provin- 
cial authorities, with £20,000,000, sterling, to defray the expen- 
ses of a decent interment, out of respect to the feeimgs of sur- 
viving friends. A desperate effort is made to resuscitate the 
body under the apprenticeship system. The Kingston despatch 
is chartered by the ageats and understrappers, which, in coa* 



99 

nection with the political, religious and literary presses of repub- 
lican America, (with a precious few honorable exceptions,) or- 
ganizes into one grand galvanic battery, to restore the vital spaik 
to the dead carcass ; but in vain. The Promethean fire had 
fled forever, and only a few horrible contortions and ghastly 
smiles could be produced. In the mean while, the seventh seal 
was seen to open, by the priests of Dagon^ throughout our 
country. The heavens were hung in black. Negro carnage 
and cui-throating appeared in prophetic vision, as brilliant as an 
Oswego aurora horeaUs^ to dance their gambols, in the form of 
free slaves. The Post-Master General saw a sign in the heav- 
ens which he deemed a sufficient voucher to warrant his direct- 
ing the New-Yoikand Charleston post offices to exclude intelli- 
gence, saying, that under the circumstances, "it was patriotism 
do disregard the laws." Old Hickory, himself, learned for the 
first time, what was the true definition of/ear, and recommend- 
ed congress to gag the press, by submitting the contents of the 
mail bag to the inspection and censorship of thevotaiies of slave- 
ry. Gov. Marcy's religious qualms got the better of his states- 
manship, and he hinted to the legislature the necessity there 
might be of enacting penal laws, to prevent us fanatics writing 
or printing any thing about the rights of man, in defiance of the 
two constitutions, while he and they had just taken their lips 
from the Bible, in their oath to support. The gag democratic of 
Pinckney, of Hawes, of Paiton, of Atherton, and of Johnson, were 
successively invented, as ligaments to keep the Union together, 
and exhibit to an admiring world the hitherto unknown mode of 
governing a free people, and of exhibiting the moral beauties of 
that last hope of man, the confederation of twenty- six free and 
independent republics. The colonization society had long be- 
fore discovered that the freed negro, though heaven's selected 
missionary to evangelize Africa, was, in any other vocation, the 
"vilest of the vile," and if liberated faster than consecrated and 
missionated, ourblessed land would be overrun with 

"A multitude, like which the barb'rous North, 
Poured never from her frozen loins, to pass 
Rhene or the Donaw," 

But when she saw 800.000 freed in a day, she "trembled from 
her entrails," and "gave signs of Avoe that all was lost." Expur- 
gated and mutilated editions of English literature were ordered 
for the South. Lynch clubs were organized, and in fine, such 
tragi-comic scenes were enacted, in state and church, in sock 
and buskin, as might well move a Democritus to deride, and a 
Heraclitus to deplore the vices and vanities, the perversities 
and pomposities, of poor, infirm, purposely deluded humanity. 

In the mean while, the truth has been advancing, conquering 
and to conquer. The British nation having become surcharged 



100 

with it, her religious, her social, her literary, her political, her com- 
mercial relations with the world, are so many conductors., 
through which she is electerizing the nations of the earth. Infi- 
del France, her ancient enemy, has yielded to the potency of 
her moral influence, and is now taking efficient and radical 
measures to abolish slavery in the colonial members of her em- 
pire. Every steam-ship sent across the Atlantic, is a flaming 
"incendiary" to the tottering empire of American slavery. Brit- 
ish aristocracy is inflicting on- mortified American democracy, 
lessons as unwelcome as they are philosophical, on the inaliena- 
ble rights and essential equality of man. And that same city, 
whieh, fifty-seven years ago, witnessed the meeting of the six 
Q,uakers within her suburbs, is about to be coronated with a 
diadem, imperishable as that Christian philanthropy, whose con- 
gregated representatives, from the round world, are to assemble 
within her borders, and officiate at the sublime gala. 

But amid all the incongruities here pointed out, and the thou- 
sand others with which the pathway of the moralist and the 
statesman is beset, I must, in closing these deeply interesting 
but too hasty reflections, indulge the fond hope that the fulness 
of the limes is fast drawing nigh — that in the very rottenness and 
corruption which enshrouds the politi'^al and religious institu- 
tions of mankind, a seminal principle has already gerrainatedj 
and io llist putting itself forth in vernal beauty, and is big with 
prornise of perrennial strength, and millennial glory — that the 
Spirit of God is now brooding on the face of the chaotic deep, 
and is teaching his vicegerent on earth, human reason, to resume 
the full and harmonious exercise of all her long lost and profane- 
ly derided functions — that this self-balanced principle, baptized 
into the transcendant, but not inharmonious truth, as it is m Je- 
sus, is beginning to upheave the foundations of that vast moun- 
tain of error and sin, with which Christendom, and with it hu- 
manity, has been oppressed for fifteen centuries, and will yet bear 
a mighty tide of saving health toallnations — that the oneness of 
that tiuth, in its variegated aspects and material certainties, will 
yet be seen, eye to eye, by all her meek and single-minded vota 
ries — that that confirmed demon, the anti-discussion spirit, alike 
abhorrent to God and man, will vet be exorcised, not only from 
the church, but from the human family, and colonized in his own 
appropria.te home and fatherland, among the beasts that roam 
the howling wilderness — that those prejudices, which seek to set 
bounds to the Catholicism of human sympathy and brotherly- 
love, and to canton out the human family into grades and castes, 
irrespective of that dignity and worth which are weighed m the 
balance of the sanctuary, will yet be tested in the crucible of 
apostolic orthodoxy— that God will yet teach all His children 
that He 13 rerily no respecter of persons, and that it is with & 



101 

high hand, and worse than Atheistical heart, that wp, who a-f? 
iavored with His revealed word, break both of the two great 
co.nmandiTients, when we blasphemously impeach the ijoodness 
of His owQ handiwork, and cruelly sneer at a brother whom He 
has made in His ewn likeness, because enveloped in a different 
colored skin from ours — that in the indulgence of brute caprice, 
our aversions and antipathies must at least be limited to rats and 
dogs, and other creatures made for our '''sport and gust,'' bul 
that we must love our neighbor, not with that kind of love be- 
stowed on a favorite horse or spaniel, hut as ourselves, as a com- 
peer standing on the same exalted platform of humanity — that 
we will yet be taught our own heart and the golden rule, well 
enough, to see, that the kind of love which looks down with af- 
fected pity on an innocent brother, and speculates on his assu- 
med degradation, is felt by its recipient, in every virtuous mind, 
to be but another name for hate, in its most cruel type — that the 
ploughshare of truth will yet tear up the fuundations of that bas- 
tard philosophy, built on the assumed debasement ofone tribe of 
the human family below another — that the sword of the spirit 
will yet be sheathless, and two edged, in the hands of a ministry, 
having ap adequate unction of the spirit of the Lion of the tribe 
of Judah, to assail iniquity in her high places, rampant with po- 
litical power, and with 'the heroism of a Shadrach, Meshach 
and Abed-nego, to trample under foot those anti-godlv statutes 
which forbid an African child being taught to read his Bible, and 
whichrequires the ambassador of Christ, in miserable truculency, 
to keep back from the victims of oppression, that portion of His 
councils which are redolent of liberty. The spirit of the times 
calls loudly for witnesses, who, when arraigned for violanng 
such laws, can intrepidly step into the criminal box, and say to 
the public prosecutor, repiesenting the sovereignty of earthly le- 
gislation, "v/e are not careful to answer thee in this matter, O 
king." In case the approaching crisis calls for the testimony of 
such witnesses, the same God who, on on a less needed occa- 
sion, raised up a Ridley, a Cranmer, and a Latimer, will doubt- 
less provide His church with a noble army of martyrs, worthy of 
her fundamental truth, which they may have the immortal hon- 
or of sealing with their blood. But whether such sacrifices are 
to be made or not, the moral warfare now raging between truth 
atjd error, is evidently never to be compromised. The time is at 
hand, when it will be practically conceded, that all truth, lying 
within the firmament of the human mind, is so affiliated, that its 
discussion, whether in physics or metaphysics, in religion or in 
politics, will be invited rather than interdicted, by every faithful 
servant of God who is ambitious of doubling the one. the two, 
or the five talents confided to him— that human expediency, like 
fche prodigal son who hss so lon^ been wasting his substance- 



Ti,';ui nolo-J3irving in a far country, will yel return^ as penitent S'i 
p-:'nriylcss, to the ancient homestead, where there is bread enough, 
and will find the task as pleasina: as it is profitable, to yield implicit 
obedience to the commands of his Heavenly Father. 

In worshipping God with all our minds, a phiiosophy will yet 
be found in the volume of Revelation, proifouud a? the ocean, but 
transparent as a sea ofglass, which all will delight to explore. — 
in worshipping Hitn with all our soul, a poetry will be evinced, 
sv/etler than the harp of Orpheus, and harmonious as the music 
of the spheres, which none will be incapable of appreciating— 
that this philosophy and this poetry will re-elevate the once an^ 
gelic nature of man to an eminent height above the debasing 
sensualities of his bestial nature, in which he has been unfortu"^ 
nateiy submerged by his original apostacy — that Christianiiy, 
instead of being of ^he stinted and churlish growth it has exhib- 

d these last fifteen centuries, keeping but little more than 
rjalpace with Mahometanism in its progress, instead of being 

forced hotbed plant, it v/ill yet blossom abundantly, and re- 

ce *w(-ri with joy and singing — the glory of Lebanon shall be 
;"en unto it, the excellency of Catmeland Sharon, and the wil- 
t nes^; and the solitary place shall be glad, and the desert shall 

■ -^ ■ -■\'l blossom as the rose. 



THE 

BROTHERHOOD OF THIEVES. 

on 

A TKUU PICTURE 

OF THE 

AMERICAN CHURCH AND CLERGY^ 

/ 

BY STEPHEN S. FOSTER. 

NEW-LONDON : 

PUBLISHED BY W1LLL\M BOLLEa 

1843. 



/ 



V 



ei 



^. LETTER 

* * • 

<STc Nathaniel Barxey and PETii:ii Macy or 
Nantucket. 



PART. FIR.ST. 

Vie%7 of the political action of tL.e American Church and Clergy on Slaver>-. 

EsiiEEMED Fkiends : 

In the early part of last Autumn, I received a letter from you, 
requesting me to prepare an article for the press, in vindicaiion 
of the strong language of denunciation of the American church 
and clergy — vdiich I employed at the late Anti-Slavery Conven- 
tion on your Island, and v/hich was the occasion of the dis- 
graceful mob, which disturbed and broke up that meeting. In 
my answer, I gave you assurance of prompt compliance with 
your request; but fur reasons satisfactory to myself, 1 have failed 
to fulfil my promise, up to the present time. The novelty of the 
occasion has now passed away ; the deep aud malignant passions 
which were stirred in the bosoms of no inconeiderable portion 
af your people, have, doubtless, subsided, but the important r-fc^s 
connected with it, ar j yet fresh in the memories of all ; and as the 
occasion was one of general, not local, interest, and the spirit 
which was there exhibited, was a fair specimen of the general 
temper and feeling of our country, towards the advocates ot 
equal rights and impartial justice, 1 trust it will not be deemed 
amiss in me, to make it a subject of public notice, even at this 
late period. 

But in the remarks which i propose to make, it will be no 
part of my object to vindicate myself in the opinion of the public, 
against the foul aspersions of those whose guilty quiet my 
preaching may have disturbed. Indeed, to tell the truth, 1 place 
a very low estimate on the good opinions of my countrymen — 
quite as low, I think, as they do on mine, if I may judge from 
their very great anxiety to have me speak well of them, which 
1 positively never can, so long as their national Capital is a hu- 
man flesh mart, and their chief magistrate is a* slave-breeder. 
The most that I can do, is to pledge myself never to mob them, 
nay, that I will not even be displeased with them, for speaking il' 



4 

df me, while their character remains what it now if. My oppo- 
nents, among whom rank most of the church and clergy of the 
country, have disturbed a majority of the meetings which I have 
attended, within the last nine months, by drunken, murderous 
mobs, and in seveial instances, they have inflicted severe injury 
upon my person ; but lvalue this violence and outrage as proof 
cf their deep conviction of the truth and power of what I say. I 
deem the reproach of such men, sufficient praise. And There 
tender them my thanks for the high compliment they have so 
often paid to my opinions, in the extreme measures to which 
they have resorted, to compel me to speak in their praise. But 
so long as their character remains such that I can bestow no 
commendations, I shall ask none in return. 

Nor is it my intention in this letter, to w'eaken, by explanations, 
the force of my testimony against the popular religion of our 
country, for the purpose of allaying the bloody spirit of perse- 
cution which has, of late characterized the opposition to my 
course. True, my life is in danger, especially whenever 1 at- 
tempt to utter my sentiments in houses dedicated to what is 
called the worship of God ; but He who has opened to my view 
other worlds in which to reap the rewards and honors of a life 
of toil and suffering in the cause of truth an<l human freedom 
in this, has taught me to ' be not afraid of them that kill the 
body, and after that have no more that they can do.' Hence, I 
liave no pacificatory explanations to offer — no cov^ard disclaim- 
ers to make. But I shall aim to present to the comprehension 
of the humblest individual into whose hands this letter may 
chance to fall, a clear and comprehensive view of the intrinsic 
moral character of that class of our countrymen who clain'i our 
respect and veneration, as ministers and followers of the Prince 
of Peace. I am charged with having done them great injustice 
in my public lectures on that and various other occasions. Ma- 
ny of these who n ake this charge, doubtless, honestly think so. 
To correct their error — to reflect en their minds the light which 
God has kindly shed on mine — to break the spell in which they 
are now held by the sorcery of a designing priesthood, and 
prove that priesthood to be a' Brotherhood of Thieves' and the 
* Bulwark of American Slavery' — is all that I shall aim to do. 

But, I ought, ])erhaps, in justice to those who know nothing of 
my religious sentiments, except from the misrepresentations of 
my enemies, to say, that 1 liave no feelings of personal hostility 
towards any portion of the church or clergy of our country. As 
children of the same Father, they are encieared to me by the 
holiest of all ties ; and I arh as ready to suffer, if need be, in 
<iQ&»ce of their rights, as ill defence of the rights of the South' 



\ 



em slave. My objections to them are purely conscientious. ^I 
am a firm believer in the Christian Religion, and in Jesus as a 
divine being, avIio is to be our final judge. I was born and nur- 
tured in the bosom of the church, and for twelve years was 
among its most active members. At the age of twenty-two, I 
left the allurements of an active business life, on whicli I liad 
just entered, with fair prospects, and for seve« successive years, 
cloistered myself within the walls of our literary institutions, in 
"a course of study preparatory to the ministry." The only ob- 
ject I had in view in changing my pursuits, at this advanced pe- 
riod of life, was to render myself more useful to the world, by 
extending the principles of Christianity as taught and lived out 
by their great Author. In renouncing the priesthood and an 
organized church j and laboring for their overthrow, my object 
is still the same. I entered them on the supposition that they 
were, what from a child I had been taught to regard them, the 
enclosures of Christ's ministers and flock, and his chosen instru- 
mentalities ior ex,iending bis kingdom on the earth. I have left 
them from an unresistable conviction, in spite of my early preju- 
dices, that they are a "Hold of every foul spirit," and the devices 
of men' to gain influence and ])ower. And in rebuking their 
adherents as I do, my only object is to awaken them, if possible, 
to a sense of their guilt and moral degradation, and bring them 
to repentance, and a knowledge of the true God, of whom most 
of them are now lamentably ignorant, as their lives clearly prove. 
The remarks which I made at your Convention, were of a most 
grave and startling character. They strike at the very founda- 
tion of all our popular ecclesiastical institutions, and exhibit 
them to the world as the apologists and supporters of the most 
atrocious system of oppression and wrong, beneath which hu- 
manity has ever groaned. They reflect on the church the deep- 
est possible odium, by disclosing to public view the chains and 
handcuffs, the whips and branding irons, the rifles and blood- 
hounds, with which her ministers and deacons bind the limbs, 
and lacerate the flesh of innocent men and defenceless women. 
They cast upon the clergy the same dark shade which Jesus 
threw over the ministers "of his day, when he tore away the veil 
beneath which they had successfully concealed their diabolical 
schemes of personal aggrandizement and power, and denounced 
them before all the peo^ple, as a " den of thieves," as "fools and 
blind," " whited sepulchres," "blind guides, which strain at a 
gnat and swallow a camel," " livpocrite^, who devour widow's 
bouses, and for a pretence make long prayers," "liars," "adul- 
terers," " serpents," " a generation of vipers" who covdd not 
^' escape the damnation of hell." But appalling and ominous ac 
tbey were, 1 am not aware that I gave the parties accused, cr 



6 

thfeir mobocratic frierrds; any just cause of complaint. They 
were all spoken in public, in a free meeting, where all who dis- 
sented from me were not only invited, but warmly urged, to 
reply. I was an entire stranger among you, with nothing but 
the naked truth and a few sympathising friends to sustain me, 
while the whole weight of popular sentiment was in their favor. 
Was the controversy unequal, on their part ? Were they afraid 
to aieet me with the same lionorable weapons which I had cho- 
sen ? Conscious innocence seldom consents to tarnish its char- 
acter by a dishonorable defence. Had my charges been un- 
founded, a refutation of them, under the circumstances, would 
have been most easy and triumphant. My opponents, had they 
been innocent, could have acquitted themselves honorably, and 
overwhelmed their accuser in deep disgrace, without the neces- 
sity of resortinst to those arguments which appeal only to one's 
fears of personal harm, and which are certain to react upon 
•their authors, when the threatened danger subsides. 

13ut if all that I have alleged against them be true, it was, ob- 
viously, my right, nay, my imperative duty, to make the disclo- 
sin-es which I did, even though it might be, as you well know it 
was, at the peril of my life, and the lives of my associates. 

In exposing the deep and fathomless abominations of those 
pious thieves who gain their livelihood by preaching sermons 
"ind stealing babies, I am not at liberty to yield to any intimida- 
tions, howevGr imposing tlie source from which they come. 
The right of speech — the liberty to utter our own convictions 
freely, i\t all times, and in ail place?, at discretion, nnawed by 
fear, unembarrassed by force — is the gift of God to every mem- 
ber of the family of man, and should be preserved inviolate: and 
for one, I ran consent to surrender it to no power on earth, but 
with the loss of life itself Let not the petty tyrants of our land, 
IB church or state, think to escape the censures which their 
crimes deserve, by hedging themselves about with the frightful 
j^enalties of human law, or tlse more frightful violence of a 
drunken and murderous niob. There live the men who are not 
afraid to die, even though called to meet their fate within the 
gloojny walls of a dismal prison, with no kind hand to wipe the 
cold death-sweat from their sinking brow ; and they scorn a 
feiter on limb or spirit. They know their rights, and know how- 
to defend tliem, or to obtain more than an equivalent for their 
loss, in the rewards of a martyr to the right. While life remains, 
they will speak, and speak freely, though it be in "A voice from 
the Jail :" nor will they treat the crimes and vices of slave- 
breeding priests and their consecrated abettors of the North, 
with less severity than they do the crimes and vices of other 
marauder* ow: the'ip^ow^srhbor's property and rights. Nor should 



the friends of freedom be alarmed at the consequences of this 
faithful dealing with "spiritual wickedness in high places. The 
mobs which it creates, are but the violent contortions of the pa- 
tient, as the deep gashes of the operator's knife severs the in- 
fected limb from his sickly and emaciated body. 

The fact that my charges against the religious sects of our 
country, were met with violence and outrage, instead of sound 
arguments and invalidating testimony, is strong presumptive evi- 
dence of their truth. The innocent never find occasion to re- 
sort to this disgraceful mode of defence. If our clergy and 
church were the ministers and church of Christ, would their 
reputation be defended by drunken and murderous mobs ? Are 
brick-bats and rotten eggs the weapons of truth and Christianity ? 
Did Jesus say to his disciples, " Blessed are ye when the moh 
shall speak well of you, and shall defend you ?" The Church, 
Slavery, and the mob are a queer trinity ! And yet that they 
are a trinity — that they all " agree in one" — cannot be denied. 
Every assaujt which we have made on the bloody slave system, 
as I shall hereafter show, has been promptly met and repelled 
by the church, which is herself the claimant of several hundred 
thousand slaves ; and whenever we have attempted to expose 
the guilt and hypocrisy of the church, the mob has uniformly 
been first and foremost in her defence. But 1 rest not on pre- 
sumptive evidence, however strong and conclusive, to sustain 
my allegations against the American church and clergy. The 
proof of their identity with Slavery, and of their consequent 
deep and unparalled criminality, is positive and overwhelming , 
and is fully adequate to sustain the gravest charges, and to justi- 
fy the most denunciatory language, that has ever fallen from 
the lips oi" their most inveterate opponents. 

I said at your meeting, among other things, that the American 
church and clergy, as a body, were thieves, adulterers, man- 
stealers, pirates, and murderers— that the Methodist Episcopal 
Church was more corrupt and profligate than any house of ill 
fame in the city of New- York— that the Southern ministers ot 
that body were desirous of perpetuating Slavery for the purpose 
of supplying themselves with concubines from among its hap- 
less victims— and that many of our clergymen were guilty of 
enormities that would disgrace an Algerine pirate ! ! These senti- 
ments called forth a burst of holy indignation from the pious and 
dutiful advocates of the church and clergy, which overwhelmed 
the meeting with repeated showers of stones and rotten eggs, 
and eventually compelled me to leave your island, to prevent 
the shedding of human blood. But whence this violence and 
personal abuse, not only of the author of these obnoxious senti- 
ments, but also of your own unoffending wives and daughters 



8 

Those faces and dresses you will recollect, were covered with 
he most loathsome filth ? It is reported of the ancient Phari- 
ees and their adherents, that they stoned Stephen to death for 
'reaching doctrines at war with the popular religion of their 
imes, and charging them, with the murder of the Son of God ; 
)uttheir successors of the modern church, it would seem, have 
liscovered some new principle in Theology, by which it is made 
heir duty not only to stone the heretic himself, but all those 
also who may at any time be found listening to his discourse 
without a permit from their priest. Truely, the church is be- 
coming •' Terrible as an army with banners." 

This violence and outrage on the part of the church were, no 
doubt, committed to the glory of God and the honor of religion, 
although the connexion between rotten eggs and holiness of 
iieari is not very obvious. It is, I suppose, one of the mysteries 
of religion which laymen cannot understand without the aid of 
the clergy ; and I therefore suggest that the pulpit make it a 
subject of Sunday discourse. But are not the charges here al- 
ledged against the clergy strictly and literally true ? I maintain 
that they are true to the very letter— that the clergy and their 
adherents are literally, and be3'ond all controversy, a " brother- 
hood of thieves" — and in support of this opinion I submit the 
following considerations. 

You will agree with me, I think, that slaveholding mvolves 
the commission of all the crimes specified in my first charge, 
viz : thetl, adultery, man-stealing, piracy and murder. But 
should you have any doubts on this subject, they will be easily 
removed by analyzing this atrocious outrage on the laws of God, 
and the rights and happiness of man, and examining separately, 
the elements of which it is composed. Wesley, the celebrated 
founder of the Methodists, once denounced it as the "sum of all 
villainies." Whether it be the sum oi all villainies or not; I will 
not here express an opinion, but that it is the sum of at least ^ye, 
and those by no means the least atrocious in the catalogue of 
human aberrations, will require but a small tax on your patience 
to prove. 

1. Theft. To steal is to take that which belongs to another, 
without his consent. Theft and robbery are, morally, the same ■ 
act, differing only in form. Both are included under the com- 
mand, " Thou shalt not steal"— that is, thou shalt not take thy 
neighbor's property. Whoever, therefore, either secretly or by 
force, possesses himself of the property of another, is a thief. 
Now, no proposition is plainer than that every man owns his 
own industry. He who tills the soil, has a right to its products, 
and cannot be deprived of them but by an act of felony. This 
principle furnishes the only solid basis for the right of private or 



9 

individual property, and he who denies it, either in theory or 
practice, denies that right also. But every slaveholder takes the 
entire industry of his slaves, frora infancy to grey hairs. They 
dig the soil, but he receives its products. No matter, how kind 
or humane the master may be, he hves by plunder. He is em- 
phatically a freebooter, and as such, he is as much more despi- 
cable a character than the common horse-thief, as his depreda- 
tion are more extensive. 

2. Adultery. This crime is disregard for the requisitions of 
marriage. The conjugal relation lias its foundation dee[)ly laid 
in mail's nature, and its observance is essential to his happiness. 
Hence, Jesus Christ has thrown around it the sacred sanction of 
his written law, and expressly declared that the man who vio- 
lates it, even by a lustful eye, is an adulterer. But does the 
slave-holder respect this sacred relation ? Is he cautious never 
lo tread upon forbidden ground ? No ! His very position makes 
him the minister of unbridled lusL By converting woman into 
a commodity, to be bought and sold, and used by her claimant 
as his avarice or lust may dictate, he totally annihilates the mar- 
riage institution ; and transforms the wife into what he very sig- 
cificantlj terms a " Breeder," and her children into " Stock." 

This change in womai^s condition from a free moral agent to 
a chattel, places her domestic relations entirely beyond her own 
control, and makes her a mere instrument for the gratification 
of another's desires. The master claims her body as his prop- 
erty, and of course employs it for such purposes as best suit his 
inchnations — demanding free access to her bed ; nor can she 
resist his demands, but at the peril of her life. Thus is her 
chastity left entirely unprotected, and she is made the lawful 
prey of every pale-faced libertine, who may choose to prostitute 
her!! To place woman in this situation, or to retain her in it, 
when placed there by another, is the highest insult that one 
could possibly offer to the dignity and purity of her nature ; and 
the wretch who is guilty of it, deserves an epithet, compared 
with which, adultery is spotless innocence. Rape is. his crime ! 
— death his desert, if death be ever due to criminals ! Am 1 too 
severe .'' Let the offence be done to a sister or daughter of 
yours — nay, let the Kev. Dr. Witherspoon, or some otiier cn/ai»- 
ed miscreant from the South, lay his vile hands on your own 
bosom companion, and do to her what he has done to the com- 
panion of another, and what Prof Stuart and Dr. Fisk say he 
may do, " without violating the Christian faith"— and 1 fear not 
your reply. None but a moral monster ever consented to the 
enslavement of his own daughter, and none but fiends incarnate 
ever enslaved the daughter of another. Indeed, I think the 



10 

demons in hell would be ashamed to da to their fellow demons, 
what many of our clergy do to their own church members. 

3. Man-stealing. What is it to steal a man ? Is it not to claim 
him as your property ? To call him yours ? God has given to 
every man an inalienable right to himself — a right of which no 
conceivable circumstance of birth, or forms of law, can divest 
him ; and he who interferes with the free and unrestricted ex- 
ercise of that right, who, not content with the proprietorship of 
his own body, claims the body of his neighbor, is a man-stealer. 
This truth is self-evident. Every man, idiots and the insane 
only excepted, knows that he has no possible right to another's 
body •, and he v/ho persists, for a moment, in claiming it, incurs 
the guilt of man-stealing. The plea of the slave claimant, that 
he has bought, or inherited his slaves, is of no avail. What 
right had he, I ask, to purchase, or to inherit his neighbors ? The 
[)urchase, or the inheritance of them as a legacy, was itself a 
crime of no less enormity than the original act of kidnapping. 
But every slaveholder, whatever his profession or standing in 
society may be, lays his felonious hands on the body and soul of 
his equal brother, robs him of himself, converts him into an arti- 
cle of merchandize, and leaves him a mere chattel personal in the 
hands of his claimants. Hence, he is a kidnapper or man thief. 

4. Piracy. The American people, by an act of solemn legisla- 
tion, have declared the enslaving of human beings on the coast 
of Africa, to be piracj', and have affixed to this crime the penal- 
ly of death. And can the same act be piracy in Africa, and not 
be piracy in America ? Does crime change its character by 
changing longitude ? Is killing with malice aforethought no 
murder, where there is no human enactment against it.^ Or can 
it be less piratical and heaven-daring to enslave our own native 
countrymen, than to enslave the heathen sons of a foreign and 
barbarous realm ? If there be any difference in the two crimes, 
the odds is in favor of (he foreign enslaver. Slaveholding loses 
none of its enormity by a voyage across the Atlantic, nor by 
baptism into the Christian name. It is piracy in Africa — it is 
piracy in America — it is piracy the wide world over ; and the 
American slaveholder, though he possess all the sanctity of the 
ancient Pharisees, and makes prayers as numerous and long, is a 
pirate still, a base, j)rofligate adulterer, and wicked contemner of 
the holy institution of marriage, identical in moral character 
with the African tslavetrader, and guilty of a crime which, if 
committed on a foreign coast, he must expiate on the gallows. 

5. Murder. Murder is an act of the mind, and not of the hand. 
" Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer." A man may 
kill — that is, his hand may inflict a mortal blow, without com- 
mitting murder. On the other hand, he may commit murder, 



11 

without actually taking life. The intention constitues the crime. 
He who, with a pistol at my breast, demands my pocket-book 
or my life, is a murderer, whichever I may choose to part with. 
And is not he a murderer who, with the same deadly weapon, 
demands the surrender of what to me is of infinite more value 
than my pocket-book, nay, than life itself— my liberty — myself 
— my wife and children— all that I j)ossesson earth, or can hope 
for in heaven ? But this is the crime of which every slavehold- 
er is guilty. He maintains his ascendency over his victims, ex- 
torting their unrequited labor, and sundering the dearest ties of 
kindred, only by the threat of extermination. With the slave, 
as every intelligent person knows, there is no alternative. It is 
submission or death, or, more frequently, protracted torture more 
horrible than death. Indeed, the South never sleep!?, but on 
dirks, and pistols, and bowie knive?, with a troop of blood- 
hounds standing sentry at every door! "What, 1 ask, means this 
splendid enginerv of death, which gilds the palace of the tyrant 
master ? It tells the story of his guilt. The burnished steel 
which waits beneath his slumbering pillow, to drink the blood 
of outraged innocence, brands him as a murderer. It proves, 
beyond dispute, that the submission of his victims is the only 
reason why he has not already shed their blood. 

By this brief analysis of slavery, we stamp upon the forehead 
of the slaveholder with a brand deeper than that which marks 
the victim of his wrongs, the infamy of theft, adultery, mansteal- 
inji-, piracy and murder. We demonstrate beyond the possibility 
of doubt, that he who enclaves another, that is, robs him of his 
right to himself, to his own hands, and head, and feet, and trans- 
foriTis him from a free moral agent into a mere brute, to obey, 
not the commands of God, but his claimant, is guilty of every 
one of these atrocious crimes. And in doing this, we have only 
demonstrated what, to every reflecting mind, is self-evident. 
Every man, if he would but make the case of the slave his own, 
would feel in his inmost soul the truth and justice of this charge. 
But these are \he Crimea which I have alledged against the 
American church and clergy. Hence to sustain my charge 
against them, it only remains "for me to show that they arc slave- 
holders. That they are slaveholders— party to a conspu-acy 
against the liberty of more than two millions of our country- 
nien, and, as such, are guilty of the crimes of which they stand 
accused — I affirm, and will now proceed to prove. 

It may be necessary for me first, however, to show what con- 
stitutes slaveholding, as there seems to be no little confusion in 
the minds of many on this point. And here let me say, the 
word itself, if analvzed, will give an accurate description of the 
act. It is to hold one in sJaverv— to keep him in the 'condition 



12 

of a chattel. But slaveholding, in all cases, is necessarily a so- 
cial crime. A man may commit theft or murder alone, but nc 
single individual can ever enslave another. It is only when sev- 
eral persons associate together, and combine their influence 
against the liberty of an individual, that he can be deprived of 
his freedom, and reduced to slavery. Hence, connection with 
an association, any part of whose object is to hold men in slave- 
ry, constitutes one a slaveholder. Nor is the nature or criminal- 
ity of his offence altered or affected by the number of persons 
connected with him in such an association. If a million of peo- 
ple conspire together to enslave a solitary individual, each of 
them is a slaveholder, and no less guilty than if he were alone 
in the crime. It is no palhation of his offence to say, that lie is 
opposed to slavery. The better feelings of every slaveholder 
are opposed to slavery. But if he be opposed to it, why, I ask, 
is he concerned in it ? Why does he countenance, aid, or abet, 
the infernal system ? The fact of his opposition to it, in feeling, 
instead of mitigating his guilt, only enhances it, since it proves, 
conclusively, that he is not unconscious of the wrong he is doing. 

It is a common but mistaken opinion, that to constitute one a 
slaveholder he must be the claimant of slaves. That title be- 
longs alike to the slave claimant and all those who, by their 
countenance or otherwise, lend their influence to support the 
slave system. If I aid or countenance another in stealing, I am 
a thief, though he receive all the booty. The Knapps, it will be 
recollected, were hung-asthe murderers of Mr. White, though 
Crowninshield gave the fatal blow, and that, too, while they were 
at a distance from the bloody scene. It matters little who does 
the mastery, and puts on the drag chain and handcuffs, whether 
it be James B. Gray, the Boston Police, Judge Stor\', or some 
distinguished Doctor of Divinity of the South ; the guilt of the 
transaction consists in authorizing or allowing it to be done. 
Hence, all who, through their political or ecclesiastical connex- 
ions, aid or countenance the master in his work of death, are 
slaveholders, and as such, are stained with all the moral turpi- 
tude which attaches to the man, who, by their sanction, wields 
the bloody lash over the heads of his trembling victims, and 
buries it deep in their quivering flesh. Nay, the human hounds 
which guard the Plantation, ever eager to bark on the track of 
the flying fugitive, are objects of deeper indignation and abhor- 
rence, tlian even its lordly proprietor. 

How stands this matter, then, in regard to the American 
church and clergy ? Is it true of them, that lliey are either 
claimants of slaves, or watch-do2;s of the Plantation ? Such, I 
regret to say, is the shameful and humilating fact. It is undeni- 
ably true,.that, with comparitively few exceptions, they occupy 



13 

one of these two positions in relation to the " peculiar institution.'* 
Thousands of the ministers, and tens of thousands of the mem- 
?iers of the different sects are actually claimants of slaves. They 
buy and sell, mortgage and lease, their own " brethren in the 
Lord," not unfrequently breaking up families, and scattering 
their bleeding fragments over all the land, never to be gathered 
again, till the Archangel's trump shall wake their slumberin«r 
ashes into life. In confirmation of this statement," if proof be 
asked, I submit the following testimony of Rev. JSamuel Heus- 
ton, late of Utica, N. Y., an accredited minister of the Metho- 
dist Episcopfd Church, who formerly resided at the South. In 
reply to several questions by Rev. George Storrs of the same 
church, Mr. H. says : — 

"I know that members of the ^I. E. Church sell slaves at auc- 
tion, to tlie highest bidder : and it is not considered a discifdinary 
ofTence. I know of Methodist preaciiers buyingf slaves with no 
apparent design to better their condition, but evidently for the sake 
of gain." 

" I should think nearly one iialf, at least, of the ministers of our 
Church hold slaves and trade in them ; and nearly all the mem- 
bers who are able to own slaves, not only hold them, but buy and 
Bell them. 

"I know an official member of the M. E. Church, Col. , 

that bought in one purchase about fifty thousand dollars worth of 
slaves. 

" Esq. -, of , S. C , an official member of the M. E. 

Church, who made it' a business to buy and sell slaves in lots to suit 
the purchasers, has become rich by bis speculation in tbem, and 
.still continues his trade in human beings — trading not only for 
himself, but as an agent for others. His house is head. quarters for 
Methodists — a home for the preachers. He is a chief man in the 
Church ; very benevolent. 

The opinion of Mr. Heuston as to the extent to which the 
Methodists are engaged in breeding and trafficking in slaves, is 
eorroberated by the testimony of Rev. James Smylie, a Presby- 
terian clergyman of Mississippi, who affirms the same thing of 
nil the other large denominations. In a pamphlet which he 
published in defence of slavery, in 183S, 1 think it was, we find 
the following passage : 

♦' If slavery be a sin, and advertising, and apprehending slaves 
with a view to restore them to their masters, is a direct violation of 
the Divine law, and if the buying, selling, or holding a slave for 
THE SAKE OF GAiiv, is a heinous sin and scandal, than, verily, three- 
fourths OF ALi. THE EpiscorAUANS, Methodists, Baptisth, and 



u 

Presbyterians^ in eleven States of the Union, are cf the -devil. 
They ' hold,' if they do not buy and sell slaves, and, with few ex. 
ceptions, they hesitate not to 'apprehend and restore' runaway 
slaves when in their power." 

The statements of these individuals apply to the South only. 
It is only in that portion of the country, that Mr. S. says, and 
says truly, that if slavery be a sin, (and no man doubts that it is) 
three-fourths of all the Episcopalians, Methodists, Baptists, and 
Presbyterians, are of the Devil. But as the Northern branch of 
the cliurch is much larger than the Southern, a large majority 
of the ministers and church members of the whole country 
hold no property in slaves. But while it is true that they are not 
claimants of slaves, it is equally true that they are the apologists 
and supporters of the system. For the sake of union with the 
South, the norihern church and clergy, in concert with non- 
professors, have made their respective States hunting grounds 
for Southern kidnappers, and themselves the hounds. They 
have covenanted with the South that whenever one of her slaves 
shall make his escape to Massachusetts, Judge Story, and the 
United States Marshall, with his posse commitatus, shall dog 
him down, secure his person, and in due time deliver him up to 
the original kidnapper. Nor is this all. They have consented 
to become the body guard of the slave master, and have pledg- 
ed themselves to protect him against every attempt of his slaves 
to throw oft' their chains. 

It is to this union, and pledge of protection from the.Nonh 
that the slave system owes its perpetuity to the present time. 
Such at least, is the opinion of the slave-claimants themselves. 
Hence they shriek out in dismay at the first proposition of the 
abolitionists to dissolve the Union, and leave them alone in the 
enjoyment of their peculiar institutions. Such, too, is the opin- 
ion of every man of sense who knows any thing of the past 
history or present condition of our Slave population. The North 
as he very well knows, are emphatically the slave-holders. They 
are the soldiers who level the musket as the South gives the word 
« of command. Indeed, to satisfy himself of this, the humblest 
and most uninformed of our citizens needs but a little reflection 
on the facts already within his knowledge. Who does not know 
that in this country are two and a half millions of people who 
are doomed to a state of " bondage, one hour of which is fraught 
with more misery than ages of that, which our fathers rose in 
rebellion to oppose ? Confederated with them are not less than 
half a million of abolitionists, and free people of color, who be- 
lieve in the right and duty of self defence, and who are ready to 
join in every feasible measure to secure their liberty. Now, I 



15 

ask, by whose agency this vast people are kept in their present 
horrible condition ? To say that they are held by their claim- 
ants, would be to talk like one bereft of his reason. They are 
but a mere handful of men, at most, less than ihree hundred 
.housand, or, on an average, about one to every ten slaves From 
.his vast inequality in numbers, it is certain that their masters 
ire not alone concerned in their enslavement. To keep a mill- 
on of robust, athletic men and women in a state of abject servi- 
ude requires a force far beyond what they are competent to 
turnish. Whence, then, comes that force ? Who are the allies 
and abettors of these horrible tyrants, who live upon the blight- 
ed hopes of prostrate millions ? Are they the crowned despots 
of the old world ? Have Algiers and Constantinople disgorged 
themselves, and sent forth swarms of troops to form aiiving, im- 
pregnable bulwark around these execrable monsters', and shield 
them from the righteous indignation of outraged humanity ? 
The South herself shall answer this question. She shall speak, 
and disclose her accomplices in this work of death. 

Says the Editor of the Maryville, (Tenn.) Intelligencer, in an 
article on the character and condition of the slave population : — 

♦'We of the South, are emphatically surrounded by a dang' rous 
class of beings — degraded stupid savages — who if they could but 
once entertain the idea that immediate and -unconditional death 
would not be their portion, would re-act the St, Domingo tragedy. 
But the consciousness, with all their stupidity, that a len-fold tbrce, 
eoperior in discipline, if not in barbarity, would gather from the 
four corners of the United States, and slaughter them, keeps them 
in subjection. But to the non.slaviholding States, particularly, wc 
are indebted for a permanent safeguard against insurrection. With- 
out their assistance, the white population Ot the South would be 
too weak to quiet that innate desire for liberty which is ever ready 
to act itself out with every rational creature." 

In the debate in Congress on the resolution to censure John 
Quincy Adams, for presenting a petition for the dissolution of 
the Union, Mr. Underwood of Kentucky, made the following 
very just confession — a confession which concedes all that I 
have ever claimed in regard to the guilt of the North, and which 
the church and clergy must disprove, or admit all that I have 
alledged against them. In speaking of the effect of a repeal of 
the Union on Slavery, Mr. U. said : — 

••They (the South) were the weaker portion, were in the minority. 
The North could do what they pleased with them ; they could adopt 
their own measures. All he asked was, that they would let the 
South know what those measures were. One thing he knew well : 



16 

lliattlie State which he in part represented, had perhaps a deeper 
interest in tliis subject than any other, except Maryland and a small 
portion of Virginia. And why T Because he knew that to dissolve 
the Union, and separate the different States composing this confed- 
eracy, making the Ohio river, and Mason and Dixon's line the 
boundary line, he knew as soon as that was done, slavery was done 
in Kentucky, Maryland, and a large portion of Virg^inia, and it 
would extend to all the S-tates south of this line. The dissolution 
of the Union was the dissolution of slavery. It had been the com- 
mon practice f r r Southern men to get up on this floor, and say, 
' Touch this subject, and we will dissolve this Union as a remedy.' 
Their remedy was the destruction of ihe thing which they wished 
to save, and any senuible man could see it. If the Union were 
dissolved into two parts, the slave would cross the line, and then 
turn round and curse his master from the other shore." 

This confession of Mr. Tlndervvood as to the entire depend- 
ence of the slave-masters on the citizens of the nominally free 
States to guard their plantations, and secure them against deser- 
tion, is substantially confirmed by Thomas D. Arnold, of Ten- 
nessee, who, in a speech on the same subject, assures us that 
they are equally dependent on the North for personal protection 
against their slaves. In assigning his reasons for adhering to 
the Union, Mr. Arnold makes use of the following remarkable 
language : — 

"The free States had now a majority of 44 in that house. Under 
the new census, they would have 53. The cause of the slavehold- 
jng States was getting weaker and weaker, and what were they to 
do ? fie would ask his Southern friends what the South had to rely 
on, if the Union were dissolved ? Suppose the dissolution could be 
peaceably effected, (if that did not invalve a contradiction in terms) 
what had the South to depend upon ? All ihe crowned heads were 
against her. A million of slaves were ready to rise and strike for 
freedom, at the first tap of the drum. They were cut loose from 
their friends at the North, (friends that ought to be, and without 
them the South had no friends,) whither were they to look for protec- 
tion ? How were they to sustain an assauJt from England, or France, 
with ihat cancer at their vit;^ls ? The more the South reflected, the 
more clearly she must see that she had a deep and vital interest in 
maintaining the Union." 

Testimony to the same effect might be multiplied to an in- 
definite extent. But more is unnecessary. Every person ac- 
quainted with the politics of the country knows that slavery is 
iucorporeted into the constittution of our government, and is 
made a part of its settled policy. I have already said that slaves 



17 

holdin<r was, necessarily, a social crime — that it was only by 
means of a social organization, by which the power of a whole 
"Community could be combined and concentrated on a given 
point, at a given time, that the liberty of an individual could be 
crushed. The Federal and State governments, linked together 
as they now are, constitute such an organization. The protec- 
tion of the slave system was one of the objects for which the 
Union was formed. By the terms of the Federal Compact, the 
citizens of every State in the Union are required and {)ledged to 
protect the slave-claimants in each of the States where slavery 
exists, against any attempt of their slaves to regain their liberty 
by a resort to arras. The army, the navy, and tiie militia, of 
the whole country are placed at the bidding of the slave power, 
and every officer in them, from the highest to the lowest, is put 
under oath to fight the battles of slavery at the master's call. 
Already have the United States' troops been twice employed (at 
South Hampton, Va., and at Newburg, N. C.) to suppress insur- 
rection among the slaves ; and a call is now made upon the 
country for a large increase of the navy, for the better protection 
of the " peculiar institution." The Florida war also furnishes 
another and more recent instance in which the nation, as such, 
has unsheathed the swm'd in defence of slavery. The sole ob- 
ject of that war, which has cost the country more than 7,000 
lives, and exhausted its treasmy of ^40,000,000, be it remem- 
bered, was the re-capture of fugitive slaves, and to prevent fur- 
tlier escapes. And the same mighty influence which hns ex- 
lerminated the poor Indian in the everglades of Florida for 
making his rude wigwam a refuge and home for the panting 
fugitive, is now waiting to -'gatljer in ten-fold force from the 
four corners of the TTnited States, and slaughter" the pining 
bondmen of the South, should they attempt to throw off their 
chains, and assert their right to liberty. 

The guarantee of |)ersonal security against their slaves, given 
by the North to the slave-claimants, is the very life-blood of the 
slave system. Divested of the protection of Northern bayonets, 
the slave power could not sustain itself a single hour, as the 
South herself is forced to admit. "Suppose the Union to be 
dissolved, what has the South to depend upon ? All the crown- 
ed heads are against her. A million of slaves are ready to rise 
and strike for freedom at the first tap of the drum." And wliy, 
I ask, do they not now rise ? Not, surely, because in a country 
like ours such a step would be deemed morally wrong. Tha 
doctrine taught in all our pulpits, and received by the church; 
universally, is, that " Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God." 
Our clergy tell us that self-defence, and the protection of our 
2 



18 

families, is a duty which we may not innocently neglect, while 
they denounce non-resistance as a '' doctrine of devils." Why, 
then, do not the slaves assert their freedom, and meet the in- 
vaders of their rights in mortal combat, as our fathers did ? 
Why is not Madison Washington, George Washington ? And 
why are not Charles Remond, and Frederic Douglass, and 
Lundsford Lane, the Henrys, and Hancocks, and Adamses of a 
second American Revolution ? 

But one answer can be given to this question, and that is the 
one already given by the Maryville Intelligencer. The con- 
sciousness that in a controversy with their masters they must 
meet the combined forces, military and naval, of the whole 
country, alone deters them from such a movement. It is not the 
hlly-fingered aristocracy of the South that they fear, as the South 
herself tells us, but the " white slaves" of the North, who have 
basely sold themselves for scullions to the slave power, and who 
are always ready to do the bidding of their haughty proprietors, 
whatever service they may require at their hands. The slaves 
know to well, that should they unfurl the banner of Freedom, 
and demand the recognition of their liberty and rights at the 
point of the bayonet, the JVorihern pulpit, aghast with holy 
horror at the incendiary measure, would raise the maddening 
cry o{ insurrection — the JVbrf/jern church, animated by a kindred 
spirit, and echoing the infamous libel, would pour forth her 
sons in countless hordes, and a mighty avalanche of JVorthern 
soldiery, well disciplined for their work of death by long expe- 
rience in JVorthern mobs, would rush down upon them from our 
JVorthei'n hills in exterminating wrath, and sweep away in its 
desolating ruins the last vestige of their present •'forlorn hope!" 
Do I misrepresent the church and clergy ? No ! You at least, 
know that this would be only to redeem their plighted faith. 
They stand this day, before the vvorld and before high Heaven, 
sworn to protect every slave-breeder in the land in his lawful 
business of rearing men and women for the market ; nor have 
they, as a body, ever shown any symptoms of an intention to 
violate the requirements of their oath. They preach and prac- 
tice allegiance to a government which is based upon the bones 
and sinews, and cemented with the blood of millions of their 
countrymen, and hold themselves in readiness to execute its 
every decree, at the point of the bayonet. Thus, emphatically, 
are thoy the holders of the slaves — the bulwark of the bloody 
slave system — and as such, at their hands, if their be any truth 
in Christianity, will God require the blood of every slave in our 
land. And ,fbr one, so long as they continue in their present 
position, 1 deem it the duty of every friend of humanity, to 



Id 

brand them as a brotherliood of thieves, adulterers, manstealeri 
pirates, and murderers, and to prove to tlie world that, in sus- 
taining the slave system, they do actually commit all these atro- 
cious crimes. 

The Federal Compact contains another provision, as I have 
already intimated, which, in its operation, is no less fatal to the 
liberties of our enslaved countrymen than that which we have 
just considered ; and one which implicates every friend and 
supporter of the Union in all the guilt and moral turi)itude of 
slave-holding. I refer to that article of the Constitution, which 
requires the surrender of fugitive slaves. If the Northern States 
were reG% free, the slaves would forthwith escape into- them, 
and slavery would soon become extinct by emigration, as Mr. 
Underwood has well said. But what is now the fact ? Is there , 
liberty for the slave any where within the borders of the United 
States? When he steps upon the soil of Pennsylvania, or New- 
York, or Massachusetts, do his shackles fall ? Can he stand 
erect,' and say, "I am free ?" No ! He is still a crouching slave 
— still clanks his chains, and starts affrighted at the crack of the 
driver's whip. Hotly pursued by the human hounds which, 
like the fabled vulture of Prometheus, have long gorged them- 
selves upon his vitals, he reaches forth his imploring hands to 
the professed ministers and followers of the meek and loving 
Savior, and with looks that would draw tears from adamant, be- 
seeches them by all that is endearing in the ties of our connnon 
nature, and by all that is horrible in the doom of a recaptured 
slave, to save' him from the fangs of these tenible monsters. 
J3ut what is their reply ? " Go back."— Shame, shame on the 
church ! — " Go back, and wear your chains ! True, ' all men are 
created equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain inal- 
ienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of 
happiness ;" and God saiil, ' Thou shalt not deliver to his master 
the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee' — but — 
but — but we have covenanted with the wretches who have 
robbed you of these rights, never to give you shelter, nor j)ro- 
teciion ; but to return you, if found within our borders, again 
into their power.' 

This is no picture of the fancy, as thousands of our unhappy 
countrymen would testify from sad experience, if they could 
but speak. Indeed it is the language of every citizen of the 
North who holds any other relation to the Federal Compact 
than that which George Washington, and the first Ameriran 
Congress held to the colonial edicts of George HI ; for that in- 
strument, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, pledges all who 
assent to it, to withhold protection from every man who is claim- 



^0 

ed as a fugitive slave, and allovir him to be dragged back into 
bondage. But iiave the Northern church and clergy ever re- 
fused to fulfil the requisitions of this infamous compact with 
Southern man-stealers ? Have they trampled its provisions 
under their feet, and indignantly demanded its repeal ? Never ! 
On the contrary, with comparatively fpw exceptions, they have 
ranged themselves in one of the two great political parties which 
have long vied with each other in their support of slavery, and 
at the same time have waged an exterminating warfare against 
every movement in favor of universal freedom. In connection 
with these parties, they have kidnapped and returned into slave- 
ry vast numbers of those who, at different periods, had been so 
fortunate as to escape from the power of their masters ; and in 
more instances than one, have they indicted, and imprisoned 
abolitionists for giving them succor. Thus have the church and 
clergy of the North voluntarily consented to become the watch- 
dogs of the plantation ; and from long and intimate acquaintance 
with their fidelity in this service, I have no hesitation in recom- 
mending them to their Southern masters, as worthy candidates 
for the honors of a brass collar. And if i were to specify cases 
of extraordinary merit in this regard, I should name Chief Jus- 
lice Shaw and Jutlge Story, and the clergy generally of the city 
of Boston, as especially (-ntiiled to remembrance by James B. 
Gray, for their prompt and cordial acquiescence in his recent 
claim of George Latimer. It would be but an act of justice in 
Mr. G. to expend a part of the money for which he sold George 
in collars inscribed with the initials of his ovvn name, for these 
distinguished kidnappers. Their conduct on that occasion, us I 
can testify IVom personal observation, richly entitles them to 
some such lasting memento of their loyalty to tlie slave power. 

There is another view of this subject, which presents the guilt 
of the Northern church and clergy in a still more glaring light. 
It is this. To legalize crime, and throw around it the sacred 
sanctions of statutory enactments, is, undeniably, an act of much 
greater wickedness than to perpetrate it, after it has been made 
lawfid. Thus, the members of a legislative body which should 
enact a law auihorizing theft or murder, would more deserve 
the penitentiary, or the gallows, than the man who merely steals, 
or, in a fit of anger, takes his neighbor's lifi^. The iormer jus- 
tify crime, and make it honorable, and thus obliterate all dis- 
tinction letweeh virtue and vice ; the latter merely commits it, 
when legalized, but attempts no justification of his oflence. 
But the religious professions of the country have legalized slave- 
ry and the infernal slave tradcj, in the District of Columbia, and 
iu the Territory of Florida ! They have made their national 



21 

Capital, one of the greatest slave-marts on the globe ; and they 
now hold in slavery, by direct legislation, more than thirty thou- 
sand human beings, whom they have sternly refused to emanci- 
pate. No sect can claim exemption from this charge. In what- 
ever else they differ, they have all united, without exception, by 
the almost imanimous voice of their members, in opposing the 
abolition of slavery in those places, where they have the ])Ower 
to emancipate, and have declared to the world by their vote, 
(the most effective way in which they could si)eak on the sub- 
ject) that it was their sovereign will and pleasure, that the traffic 
in human beings which they have branded as piracy on the 
coast of Africa, should be lawful and honorable commerce in 
the United States ; and that the Capital of this land of boasted 
freedom should be the Guinea Coast of America. Not a moth- 
er has been robbed of her babe within the District of Columbia, 
not a solitary woman has been sold there, but the diabolical 
deed has received the legal sanction of more than seven-eighths 
of every religious sect of the North. Even the Free- Will Bap- 
tists and the Quakers, with all tlieir professed abhorrence of 
slavery, and their numerous public testimonies against it, in 
consideration of the paltry sum of four hundred dollars paid 
into their national treasury, license the auctioneer in human 
flesh, in the city of Washington. I charge this offence upon 
these denominations, because the immediate agents in granting 
these licenses are men of their own choice, and men, too, who 
were selected with a full knowledge of the fact that they were 
in favor of legalizing the slave trade, and, if elected to office, 
would license it in the District of Columbia. The abolitionists 
have long and earnestly besought the pretended ministers and 
followers of Christ, of the different sects, to elect men to office 
who would abolish all legal enactments in favor of slavery, 
wherever they had the power to do it ; but their entreaties have 
been totally disregarded, and themselves treated with the most 
profound contempt. 

The nature and enormities of the domestic slave-trade which 
is now carried on in the District of Columbia, on an extensive 
scale, under the legal sanction of nearly the entire body of the 
church and clergy, may be seen in the following eloquent and 
just description of it, from a Southern pen. The language is 
severe, but it is the severity of truth. The only fault I find with 
it is, that its heaviest strokes are not aimed at those who have 
thrown the shield of the government around this infernal traffic, 
and made it lawful and honorable commerce. I copy it 



22 

From the Millennial Trumpeter, Tenn. 

*• Droves of negroes chained together, in dozens and scores, and 
hand-cuffed, have been driven through our country in numbers far 
surpassing any previous year. And these vile slave drivers and 
dealers are swarming like buzzards round a carrion, throughout this 
country. You cannot pass a few miles in the great roads without 
having every feeling of humanity insulted and lacerated by this 
spectacle. Nor can you go into any county, or any neighborhood, 
scarcely, without seeing or hearing of some of those despicable 
creatures, called negro drivers." 

" Who IS A NEGRO DRIVER ? One whosc cycs dwell with delight 
on lacerated bodies of helpless men, women and children ; whose 
soul feels diabolical raptures at the chains, and hnnd-cufFs, and cart 
whips for inflicting tortures on weeping mothers torn from helpless 
babes ; and on husbands and wives torn assunder forever. Who is 
a negro driver ? An execrable demon, who is only prevented by 
want of power, fellow citizens, from driving your wives, and sons, 
and daughters, in chains and hand-cufFs with the blood-stained cart 
whip to market. Yea, his hardened heart would make but little 
difference, whether he made his ill-gotten gain by selling them to a 
merciless cotton or sugar grower, or by sending them directly to 
the flames of hell. Is your insulted humanity, ye sons of Tennes- 
see, your insulted sense of ri^lit and wrong ; your abused convic- 
tion of the rights of man satisfied, by saying the tears, and groans, 
and blood rf these human droves are not the tears, and groans, and 
blood of our wives, children, brothers, and fathers; ortliese "blood- 
snnffing vultures" of hell should not set their polluted tread on our 
soil with impunity ? Their lives should alone for their audacity. 
And is the fountain of your sympathies dried up for the poor op. 
pressed African, merely because he is helpless and defenceless ? 
Is the hand of efficient aid drawn back, merely because the enchain- 
ed, bleeding victim cannot help himself? Is not the African thy 
brother ? Is he not a man, with all the sympathies and sensibili- 
ties of our nature ? Was he not made in the image of God ? Did 
not Christ die to redeem him ? And shall we suffer these miscreant 
fiends to drive our fellow men in chains before our eyes, as brutes 
are driven to market." 

•'The laws, you say, protect these ruffians in their nefarious traffic. 
Yea, the laws are often made by wretches whose characters are fre- 
quently a /ac 5mz7e of these negro drivers, whose moral picture 
would darken the black canvass of the pit. There are, at this very 
time, miscreans engaged in this trade, who once polluted our legis- 
lative halls. But suppose villains enough of the right hue let into 
the legislature, and pass laws that one order of society may violate 
the honor of your wives and daughters ; would such a law on the 
pages of our statute book secure the perpetrator from condign pun. 
ishment ? What can the dead letter of a statute book do, in opposi. 
tion to the public opinion of an enlightened and virtuous community t 



23 

But there is yet another shade in this picture, of a still deeper 
hue. By whose choice is it, I ask, that a most notorious thief 
and jaiVa^e now fills the presidential chair? John Tyler is an 
old, substantial, Virginia slave-breeder, who has long supported 
his family in princely luxury by robbing mothers of their babes ; 
and yet he was elected to office by the votes of a large majority 
of the Northern church and clergy, while most of tlie minority 
at that election, voted for a man of equally infamous character. 
But why have the church and clergy shown this preference for 
thieves to rule the nation, and shape its destinies ? Doubtless, 
because they are a '* brotherhood of thieves," as like always 
seeks its like. Away, then, with all their pretensions to Chris 
tianity, or even common honeslij. The man who votes with either 
of the great political parties, does necessarily and inevitably vote 
to legalize slavery, both of these parties being pledged to exe- 
cute all the provisions of the Constitution in favor of slavery, 
and to go even farther, and perpetuate the system, with all its 
abominations, in the District of Columbia ; the man who legal- 
izes slavery, and throws around it the protecting shield of the 
government, is the most gtiilty and diabolical of slave-holders ; 
and every slave-holder,'as 1 have already shown, is guilty of the 
crimes of theft, adultery, manstealing, piracy and murder. It 
follows then, as a legitimate and certain conclusion, that as the 
ministers and members of the Northern church, with compara- 
tively few exceptions, have ranged themselves in the ranks of 
the Whig, or Democratic party, and have thus not only volunta- 
rily formed a political alliance with the slave-claimants, in all 
the diflerent States of the Union, guaranteeing their i)ersonal 
security, and the return of their fugitive slaves, biit have also 
given their direct sanction to slavery, by legalizing it, and refus- 
ing to emancipate those whom they have a constitutional right 
to set free, they are s-lave-holders in the most odious sense of 
this term, and as such, are guilty of all the crimes alledged 
against them in my first charge. 

From the conclusion to which we have here arrived, there is 
no possible escape. Two and a half millions of om* countiymen 
now loaded with chains and fetters demand their liberty at our 
hands. Shall they be free ? What say the Northern church and 
clergy ? By voting for men to rule the country who are known 
to be the uncompromising opponents of abolition, they answer 
—No ! By refiising to annul that portion of the Federal Com- 
pact which requires them to return fugitives from slavery, and 
put down the slaves, should they attempt to regain their liberty 
by a resort to arms, they answer—No I By stifling the voice of 
free discussion, and stirring up mobs against the abolitionists, 
they answer— No I Whatever influence they possess, as citi'^ens, 



24 

is all thrown into the scale of slavery. They looked upon John 
Tyler as he robbed the frantic mother of her babe, and forth- 
with made him President of the United States I They have 
seen Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun tear the tender and con- 
fiding wife from the fond embrace of her husband, and sell her 
to a stranger, and they are now eager to confer on them the 
same splendid honors ! And at this very moment they stand 
with sword in hand, all ready to thrust it into the heart of the 
slave, should he assert his freedom, and extend the hand of pro- 
tection to his insulted and outraged wife and daughters! 

Should these charges chance to meet the eye of the guilty 
authors of this wrong, they will, doubtless, ask, " 3s thy servant 
a dog, that he should do this great thing ?" Yes, I answer, em- 
phatically, ye are dogs — the ivatch-dogs of your Southern masters 
whose plantations ye guard — and as such, ye are more brutal and 
inhuman than the servant of the Syrian king. Ye daily rob 
more than three hundred of your own country-women of their 
new-born babes, and doom those babes to a fate more horrible 
than death, breaking the mother's heart ! Ye have recklessly 
trampled under foot the sacred institution of marriage, consigned 
every sixth woman in the country to a life of hopeless concu- 
binage and adultery, and turned your famous Ten-Miles-Square 
into a mart, where the rich aristocrat may lawfully sell the poor 
man's wife for purposes of prostitution, thus legalizing violence 
on female chastity in its most horrible and disgusting forms. 
Think, ye fathers and mothers against whom I bring these tre- 
mendous charges, oh, think of your own daughters on the auc- 
tion block, to be sold to any vile and loathsome wretch who 
may choose to purchase them, to pander to his beastly lusts ! 
See your own darling son, in the person of Geo. Latimer, kid- 
napped in open day, in the heart of New-England's metropolis, 
and under the very eye of her pulpit— see him manacled in open 
court, and dragged in chains through the streets of that proud 
city, not by a drunken mob, but by the Police with the city 
marshall at their head ; and finally immured with felons in a 
dismal cell, there to wait, for weeks, with trembling anxiety the 
horrible doom of a recaptured slave — and tell me if they are 
not dogs, nay, fiends incarnate, who per})etrate such outrages ! 
But, remember, " Thou art the man !" What I have here sup- 
posed to be done to thy son and daughters, thou hast done to the 
son and daughters of another I 

No intelligent person, man or woman, who is in concert with 
the Whig or Democrajic party, or who votes for any other than 
an uncompromising abolitionist for civil office, or silently coun- 
tenances such voting, can say, in truth, he is innocent of these 
crimes. It is impossible ! Sooner will Pontius Pilate shake 



25 

from his spotted robes the blood of the murdered Jesus ; sooner, 
far sooner, will the infatuated Jew who cried "Away with him, 
away with him, let him be crucified," stand acquitted before the 
bar of his final Judge, than such a man exculpate himself from 
the guilt of slavery. In imitation of the Roman Judge, he may 
wash his hands before the people by passing resolves against 
slavery, or excluding slave-claimants from his communion table, 
and say, " 1 am innocent of the blood of the slave," but it is of 
no avail. Still, in his "skirts is found the blood of the souls of 
the poor innocents." For private ends he continues to sustain, 
by his vote, a system which, in words, he has repudiated, as the 
supple tool of the envious Pharisees condemned to death the 
man whom he had previously pronounced without a fault ; and 
hence, in his ecclesiastical condemnation of slavery, he only 
adds to the crime of slave-holding, the guilt of base hypocrisy. 
So long as a solitary slave shall leave his foot prints on our soil, 
or clank his chains in our ears, no position can be innocent, nor 
safe, but that of uncompromising hostility to whatever is in 
fellowship, or alliance, with the slave power ; and they alone 
who have assumed this position, can justly claim exemption 
from the charge of slave-holding. 

1 might pursue the political aspect of this subject farther, and 
bring together a great amount of additional proof in supjjort of 
my positions. But it is needless. Indeed, more evidence would 
only lumber and confuse the mind, instead of aiding its conclu- 
sions. I will, therefore, conclude this part of my letter with a 
single additional consideration ; and then call your attention to 
the ecclesiastical action of the church and clergy on slavery, for 
the purpose of showing, that they not only sanction and uphold 
it, as citizens, in common with non-professors, but that they have 
tin-own around it the sacred sanctions of religion, by adt)iitting 
it into the pulpit, and to the communion table ; and that they 
have thus become the main bulwark of the slave system, and an 
insurmountable obstacle to its overthrow, so long as they enjoy 
the confidence of the people as Christian bodies. 

The remark which 1 wish to add in conclusion, in this. The 
clerical and lay members, with few exceptions, of all the various 
religious sects in the country, are identified with one of the two 
great political parties which administer and control the govern- 
ment, either by actually voting for their candidites, or by a si- 
lent acquiescence in, and approval of, their measures. Those 
clergymen who absent themselves from the polls, but fail to re- 
buke the members of their respective churches for voting with 
those parties in supi)ort of slavery, are as responsible for their 
votes as they would be, had they deposited them in the ballot 
box with their own hands. This at least, is the doctrine of the 



26 

Scriptures. " When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man^ thou 
shall surely die ; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from 
his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity ; hut his blood 
icill 1 require at thine hand." (Ex. 33 : 8.) Hence, politically, the 
sects are Whigs and Democrats ; and up to this hour, they have 
gone all lengths with these parties in their " Tippecanoe and 
Tyler too" and Kinderhook conventions for the election of slave 
masters, and "Northern men with Southern principles," to fill 
the highest offices in the gift of the people. Now, I ask, were 
their own children in slavery, would they be found in the ranks 
of those parties ? If you say, yea ; then, I reply, would they 
honor with the highest offices in government the men who had 
debauched their own daughters, and sold the flesh, and bones, 
and blood of their sons in human shambles. If you say, nay ; 
then, without further argument, are they individually convicted 
of knowingly and intentionally contributing of their influence to 
support the slave system — a system that robs two and a half 
millions of our countrymen of every right and privilege which 
renders life a blessing ; and therefore, they must answer to God 
and the friends of truih and human liberty, not for the enslave- 
ment of one or two individuals merely, but of every victim of 
our countrv's iwrongs which now pines in his chains. And if 
Christianity be not a fable, Christ will say to them, in the day of 
•fudgemenr, not only for what they have actually done fo sus- 
tain slavery, but for what they have neglected to do for its over- 
throw, " I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat : I was 
thirsty, and ye gave me no drink : I was a stranger, and ye took 
me not in : naked, and ye clothed me not : sick and in prison," 
— doion on the planiations of the ^oidh — "and ye visited me not." 
" Depart from me, ye ciu'sed, into everlasting fire prepared for 
the devil and angels." For, '' Verily I say unto you in as much 
as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me." 



IPAUT ^KCOIVB, 

Contains a viev/ of the religicns teaching's and ecclesiastical action of the 
American Church and Clergy on Slavery. 

In the former part of my letter, I have shown that slavery is 
an American and not a Southern institution, and that the North 
and South are leagued together politically in its support. I have 
also shown, both by reference to facts, and from the testimony 
of distinguished men at the South, that the slave power could 
not sustaiu itself without the aid and protection of the general 



27 

government, but must fall at once before the avenging arm of 
its outraged victims ; and consequently, that all who sustain the 
government in its present pro-slavery character, do thereby sus- 
tain the slave system, and should be held responsihle for all the 
guilt and misery which it involves. But while the Federal gov 
ernment, that is, the electors of (he country, are the direct and 
visible agents on whose authority and fostering care slavery de- 
pends for its support and perpetuity, there is in this case, as in 
most others, of a like naiure, " a power behind the throne greater 
than the throne itself;" for in a country like ours, civil govern- 
ment is of no force, any farther than it is sustained by popular 
sentiment. The will of the people for the time being is the su- 
preme law of the land, the legislative and executive departments 
of the governments being nothing more than a mere echo of the 
popular will. Hence, the power which controls public opinion, 
does in fact, give laws to our country, and is therefore, pre-emin- 
ently responsible for the vices which are sanctioned by those 
laws. That power, in this case, is the priesthood backed up and 
supported by the church. They are the manufacturers of our 
public sentiment ; and consequently, they hold in their hand the 
key to the great prison house of Southern despotism, and can 
" open and no man shut, and shut and no man open." 

There are in our country more than 20,000 of this class of 
men, scattered over every part of the land, and at the same time 
so united in national and local associations as to act in perfect 
harmony, whenever concert is required. They constitutf^ what 
may properly be termed a religious aristocracy. Among the 
exclusive privileges which they claim and enjoy, is the right to 
administer the ordinances of religion, and to lead in all our re- 
ligious services. The ear of the nation is open to them every 
seventh day of the week, when they pour into it just such sen- 
timents as they choose. And not only are they in direct and 
constant contact with the people in their public n)inistrations, 
but in their parochial visits, at the sick bed, at weddings, and at 
funerals, all of which are occasions when the mind is peculiarly 
tender, and susceptible of deep and lasting impressions. Amply 
supported by the contributions of the church, their whole time 
is devoted to the work of moulding and giving character to pub- 
lic sentiment ; and with the advantages which they enjoy over 
all other classes of society of leisure, the sanctity of their office, 
and direct and constant contact with the people as their "spirit- 
ual guides " their power has become all-controlling. It is in a 
finite sense omnipresent in every section of the country, and is 
absolutely irresistible, wherever their claims are allowed. Hence 
what they countenance it will be next to an impossibility to 



overthrow, at least till their order itself be overthrown ; and 
whatever system of evil they oppose, must melt away like snow 
beneath the warm rays of an April sun. 

To illustrate the strength of their power more fully, I will 
suppose a case. The car of Temperance rolls back its ponder* 
ous wheels, and we become a nation of drunkards. Midnight 
gloom covers the whole land. The voice of the reformer is no 
longer heard in stern rebuke, against the general debauch which 
is now rife in every rank and grade of society. The traffic in 
intoxicating drink is legalized in all parts of the country, and by 
a law of Congress for the District of Columbia, every person 
who visits the seat of government on business, or for pleasure, 
may be compelled to drink to intoxication, on penalty of thirty- 
nine lashes on his bare back, inflicted at discretion by the rum- 
sellers of the District. 

In this state of things, suddenly some daring spirit starts up, 
and with the watch-word of reform gathers round him a little 
band of fearless coadjutors, who with himself pledge their lives, 
their fortunes, and their sacred honor, to the glorious work of 
delivering their country from the scourge and curse of intem- 
perance. Struck with the sanctity of their professions, they 
naturally look to the priesthood and church for aid and co-opera- 
tion. But to their surprise they find that thousands of the cler- 
gy are not only the victims, but the apologists and advocates of 
this degrading vice and crime ; many of them are among the 
best customers of the rumseller ; they often go reeling and stag- 
gering from the grog-shop to the meeting house, and are obliged 
to ascend the pulpit on borrowed feet ; and it not unfrequently 
occurs, during the divine services of the sabbath, that the senti- 
ments of melting tenderness which flow forth in supplication 
from the pious heart of the officiating priest, are interrupted on 
their passage by a sudden explosion of the contents of the de- 
canter from his surcharged stomach. Deacons, too, in count- 
less numbers, are drunkards ; the communion season is often a 
Bacchanalian revel ; and much of the revenues of the church 
is the profits of the distillery. Doctors of Divinity and Presi- 
dents of our Theological Seminaries are often found engaged 
in amassing wealth by rum-selling ; and not a few of the mem- 
bers and officers of the American Board of Commissioners for 
Foreign Missions, and of the American Bible Society, are addict- 
ed to habitual intoxication ; while the entire body of the priest- 
hood and church, of all denominations, are united in electing to 
the highest offices in the gift of the people, men who are not 
only notorious drunkards, but who are also known to be in favor 
of perpetuating the infamous law, in the District of Columbia, 
which allows the rum-sellers of the District to compel the c\U- 



29 

2ens of the place, and strangers from abroad, to drink to intoxi- 
cation, or submit to thirty-nine lashes on their bare backs. 

Schooled in the philosophy of the Apostle who taught that 
"Judgment must begin at the house of God," the reformers call 
first upon the church and priesthood to repent, and sign the 
pledge of lotal abstinence. A few coniply with the call, and not 
only sign ihe pledge, but advocate its merits ; but much the lar- 
ger portion continue to drink ; and to save their own reputation, 
they pour contempt and ridicule on the friends of total absti- 
nence, and wink at the mobs which are got up to put then» down. 
Presbyteries resolve that drunkenness "is not opposed to the 
will of God." The General Conference of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church declare by an overwhelming vote, that they have 
no "rigl.i, wish, or intention," to abolish intemperance. Prof. 
Stewart comes out in a published letter, and denounces the lec- 
tures on lotal abstineijce as mere "spoutings and vehemence," 
and boldly declares that men may get drunk " without violating 
the christian faith, or the church." President Fisk endorses this 
doctrine, and asserts that it " will stand, because it is Bible doc- 
trine." Some of the smaller sects, and local bodies in the more 
influential ones, pass resolutions in favor of Temperance, but at 
the same time slander and traduce its firmest and most unflinch- 
ing friends, because they refuse to recognize a rum-drinking and 
rum-seUiiig church and' clergy as the re[)resentatives and ibilow- 
ors of Christ ; and as if to give undoubted proof of their hypoc- 
ris3% they still continue to vote for drunkards, and the advocates 
of the compulsion law^, for the Presidency and all the other im- 
portant offices in the gift of the people, and sternly resist every 
importunity of the friends of temperance, to aid in the election 
of men who are in favor ofrepealing that infernal enactment. 

Now, with the church and clergy in this position, what pro- 
gress, I ask, could the friends of Temperance hope to make in 
their work of reform ? It requires all the itioral power which 
they can command to make headway against the depraved appe- 
tite of the drunkard, with the church and clergy nominally in 
their favor. What then could they do with this mighty influ- 
ence openly pitted against them, and on the side of the drunkard ? 
Would thev ever dream of putting down intemperance by po- 
litical action, so long as the land was cursed with a drunken and 
besotted church and priesthood, and they were themselves in 
full fellowship with that church and priesthood ? Surely, no 
man in his so!)cr senses would ever seriously entertam such an 
idea. Men of sense would see at a glance, that the church and 
clergy were a strong and impervious rampart around the citadel 
of Intemperance, and that the only hope of our country was ia 
their speedy conversion, or utter overthrow. 



30 

But is there any analogy between the case I have Iiere suppos- 
ed, and the one under consideration ? Is it true that thousands 
of the ministers of our country are slaveholders ? Are our dea- 
cons, in countless numbers, slave-breeders and slave-traders ? 
Do Doctors of Divinity, and Presidents of our Theological Sem- 
inaries enhance their wealth by plundering cradles and trundle- 
beds ? Do members and officers of the A. B. C. F. M. and of 
the A. B. S. claim their ^neighbor's wives and daughters, and 
appropriate them to their own use as chattels personal ? Have 
Presbyteries passed resolves that " the holding of slaves, so far 
from being a sin in the sight of God, is nowhere condemned in 
his Holy Word ?" Has the General Conference of the Metho- 
dist E. Church, publicly declared that it had " no right, wish, or 
intention" to abolish the infernal slave system ? 

Has Prof. Stewart denounced the lectures of Abolitionists as 
mere "spouting and vehemence," and boldly declared that the 
strong may enslave the weak, without violating the " Christian 
faith or the church ?" And has Pres. Fisk endorsed this doctrine, 
and asserted that "it will stand, because it is Bible doctrine^" 
Do those sects and local ecclesiastical bodies which adopt reso- 
lutions in favor of Anti-Slavery, at the same time slamier and 
vilify the character of its firmest and most unflinching friends, 
because they refuse to recognize a pro-slavery church and clergy 
as the followers of Christ ? And as if to give undoubted proof 
of the hypocrisy of their anti-slavery professions, do they, as a 
body, still persist in voting for slave-claimants and pro-slavery 
men to fill the highest offices in the gift of the people, and that 
too, against the earnest remonstrances and entreaties of the ab- 
olitionists ? Truth, 1 regret to say, requires an affirmative an- 
swer to all these questions ! The entire body of the church and 
clergy of the country are in Christian fellowship with slavery, 
that is, with those who legalize the system ; while a large pro- 
portion of them are its open and unblushing advocates and apol- 
ogists ! Not a solitary sect in the land, of which 1 have any 
knowledge, has espoused the Anti-Slavery cause. They all, 
without exception, stand on the side of the oppressor, and legal- 
ize his atrocities. They pass from the communion table (o the 
ballot-box, and there deposit their votes for the man who lias 
robbed his neighbor's cradle, to fill the highest office in the gift 
of the people. Not a chain has been forged — not a fetter has 
been riveted on any human being in the District of Columbia, 
without their sanction 1 The question has often been put to them, 
" Do you, the professed ministers and followers of Christ, wish 
the Capital of your country to remain a human flesh-mart, where 
jour Saviour may be sold in the persons of his followers under 



31 

the auction hammer?" and they have as often returned an affirm- 
ative answer ! And whenever the almhiionists have seiit up their 
petitions to Congress for the ahofuion of slavery, the church and 
clergy have sent men there as their re[)resentatives, who have 
basely trampled those petitions under ilieir feet ! 

But it is not in their political capacity that the influence of the 
church and clergy has been most prejudicial to the cause of 
emancipation. True, they have rivaled the infidel and nothinga- 
rian in their support of pro-slavery parties ; and their recreancy 
at the ballot-box has been such as to merit the severest epithets 
which I have ever bestowed upon them. But in their ecclesi- 
astical character, they have publicly defended the slave system 
as an innocent and heaven-ordained institution ; and have 
thrown the sacred sanctions of religion around it, by introduc- 
ing it into the pulpit, and to the communion table ! At the 
South, nearly the entire body of the clergy publicly advocate 
the perpetuity of slavery, and denounce the abolitionists as fa- 
natics, incendiaries, and cut-throats ; and the churches and 
clergy of the North still fellowship them, and palm them off' 
upon the world, as the ministers of Christ. I know it will l)e 
said, that there are exceptions to this charge; but if there be 
any, I have yet to learn of them. I know not of a single eccle- 
siastical body in the country which has excommunicated any of 
its members for the crime otslaveholding, since the conunence- 
ment of the anti-slavery enterprise, though n)ost of them have 
cast out the true and faithful abolitionists from their communion. 

I might with great propriety pursue these general remarks, and 
indulge in a somewhat severer strain, but to understand the true 
character of the American church and clergy, and the fiill ex- 
tent of their diabolism, you must hear them speak in their own 
language. Should I tell you the whole truth respecting them, 
and tell it in my own words, I fear you would entertain the same 
opinion of me the Bramin did of his English friend, who on a 
certain occasion, as they were walking together along the banks 
of a beautiful river, admiring the richness of its scenery, impni- 
denlly remarked, that in his country, during the winter season, 
the water became so solid that an Elephant could walk upon it. 
The Bramin replied, " Sir, you have told me many strange and 
incredible things respecting your country before, yet I have al- 
v^^ays believed you to be a ma'n of truth, but now I know you lie." 
So, if 1 tell the truth respecting the American church and cler- 
gy, I am afraid you will know I lie. I will therefore introdiicc 
several of the leading sects, and let them speak lor themselves, 
through the resolves of their respective ecclesiastical bodies, 
«ind the published sentiments of their accredited ministers ; and 



32 

although you might not believe me, should I tell you that they 
have " no wish or intention," to abolish slavery, yet you will 
believe them, I trust, when yon hear the declaration from their 
own lips. I will begin with 

THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

This church extends, in territory, over the whole Union, 
and embraces in its communion, at the present time, over 
1,000,000 members, of whom probably not less than 100,000 
are slaves. It comprises 32 Annual Conferences, from which 
delegates are chosen to meet in General Conference, once in 
four years. The church is governed by six Bishops who are 
elected by the General Conference, and whose duty ii is to 
preside at the Annual Conferences ; fix the appointment of 
preachers ; ordain bishops, elders, and deacons ; and oversee 
the spiritual and temporal business of the church. 

The first meeting of the General Conference, subsequent to 
the formation of the American Anti-Slavery Society, was in 
Cincinnati, in May 1836. On tlie evening of the lOtlioCMay, 
the Cincinnati A. S. S. held a public meeting, which was ad- 
dressed by two of the members of the Conference. On the 
1^2th of May, Rev. S. G. Roszell presented to the Conference 
the following preamble and resolutions t— 

" Whereas great excitement lias pervaded this country on the 
subject of modern abolitionism, v/hich is reported to have been 
increased in this city recently, by the unjustifiable conduct of two 
members of the General Conference in lecturing upon, and in fa- 
vor of that agitating topic;— and whereas, sueh a course on the 
part of any of its members is calculated to bring upon this 
body the suspicion and distrust of the community, and misrepre- 
sent its sentiments in regard to the point at issue ;— and whereas, 
in this aspect of the case, a due regard for its own character, as 
well as a just concern for the interests of the church confided to 
its care, demand a full, decided^ and unequivocal expression of the 
views of the General Conference in the premises." Therefore, 

Resolved, — 
l.*'By the delegates of the Annual Conference in General Con- 
ference assembled, that they disapprove in the most unqualified 
sense, the conduct of the two members of the General Confer- 
ence, who are reported to have lectured in this city recently, upon 
and in favor of modern abolitionism." 



33 

Resolved,— 
2. •• By the delegfates of the Annual Conference in General Con- 
ference assembled, — that they are decidedly opposed to modern 
abolitionism, and wholly disclaim any right, wish, or intention, 
to interfere in the civil and political relation between master and 
elav^e, as it exists in the slave-holding States of this Union." 

These resolutions, after full discussion, were adopted by the 
Conference— the first by a vote of J22 to ] ], the last 120 to *14. 

Accompanying these resolutions, as they went forth to the 
world to " define the position ' of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church on the great question which is now agitating the land, 
was a Pastoral Address to the churches, which contains the 
following passages : — 

♦' These facts which are only mentioned here as a reason for the 
friendly admonition which we wish to give you, constrain 
us as your pastors, wlio are called to watch over your souls, as 
they must give account, to exliort you to abstain from all abolition 
movements and associations, and to refrain from patronizing; any 
of their publications, Sac. 

•' From every view of the subject which we have been able to 
take, and from tlie most calm and dispassionate survey of the 
whole ground, we have come to the conclusion, that the ojily 
safe, scriptural, and prudent way for us, both as ministers and 
people, to take, is, wholly to refrain from this agitating subject.'' tj-c. 

Such was the language of the representative body of the 
Methodist Episcoparchurch on the great question of emanci- 
pation, in 1S36. They here declare, emphatically, that they 
have " no wish or intention^' nay, that they iiave no " nghV 
even, to " interfere in the civil and political relation between 
master and slave" by lecturing in favor of its abolition, (for it 
was for lecturing against slavery merely, that tiiey censured 
two of their members.) and, of course, that none of us iiayo 
any such right. And what could a conclave cf demons in 
hell have said more ? No " wish or intention,'^ to abolish the 
infernal slave system!! Surely no other banditti on earth 
would have gone so far— not in hypocrisy, at least, if they hail 
in Satanic barbarity. Every circumstance of the scene con- 
tributes to heighten their guilt. They are professedly the 
ambassadors of Christ. They have assembled in [ircsence of 
the whole country, for the ostensible pu.'-pose of devising means 
for the extension of the principles of truth and righteousness 
on the earth — before them lav two millions of their country- 
men, in "a bondage one hour of which is fraught witli inore 
misery than ages of that which our fathers rose m rebedion 
^0 oppose"— and yet they have '' no wish, or intention, to m-. 
o 



34 

terfere with their civil and political relations !" This vast peo 
pie are prohibited by law from learning the letters of the 
alphabet, and of course, from reading the Bible ; and from 
the necessity of their condition as chattels, they are deprived 
of the institution of marriage, and doomed to a life of univer- 
sal concubinage and profligacy — and yet they have " no ivislt 
or intention, to interfere with their civil and political relations !" 
A million of women are daily thrown into the American mar- 
ket, and offered for sale for purposes of prostitution, to any 
person of sufficient wealth to command their price — and yet 
they have " no ivish or intention to interfere with their civil 
and political relations !" They see men and women, many 
of them members of their own church, chained together, by 
dozens, and scores, hand-cuffed, and driven from their homes 
and all that is dear to them on earth, to a distant market, and 
there sold with the meanest brutes— and yet they have '• no 
jmsh or intention to interfere with their civil and political rela- 
tions !" They look upon the three hundred American moth- 
ers who are daily robbed of their darling babes, and witness 
the keen anguish and perfect desperation to Vv'hich they are 
often driven by the strength of their maternal affections — and 
yet they have "no it'ish or inieniion to interfere with their civil 
and political relations !" No, they have not one word of con- 
solation for the broken-hearted slave — they would not see him 
free ! So they tell us. The clank of his chains and the crack 
of the driver's whip are music in their pious ears ! They 
cannot even pray for his release, for ^Hhey are decidedly oppos- 
ed to modern abolitionism !" Not less so, doubtless, than 
Beelzebub himself ! They pre/tr slavery ! And not content 
like the Priest and Levite of old, with merely passing bv their 
robbed and bleeding countrymen, and leaving them to the 
charity of otherS; they must turn aside from their priestly-cfili- 
Hig to give a dagger-thrust at the reputation of those who are 
kindly Ijinding up their wounds I 

The next meeting .of this body was in Baltimore, in 1840. 
It was to be hoped that the rising spirit of liberty which was 
now agitating the country, and opening the eyes of thousands 
to the wrongs of our enslaved countrymen, would i*each the 
ministry of the Methodist Church, and in some degree at least, 
soften their obdurate hearts. But the action of this Confer- 
ence shows-that the preaching of the truth, so far as they were 
concerned, had only proved " a savour of death ii\ito death." 
Instead of lightening the burdens of the previous Conference, 
their little finger was thicker than their predecessor's loins. 
The Conference of 1836 had chastised the slaves and their 



35 

advocates with whips, but they chastised them with scorpions. 
Up to this date, the slaves in this church had, nominally «t 
least, enjoyed that last privilege of the oppressed, the right of 
cotnplaint. But for reasons to which 1 shall hereafter refer, 
this sacred right was now wrested from them, and all recog- 
nition of their manhood totally annihilated at one fell swoop, 
by the adoption of the following resolution, which was pre- 
sented by the Rev. Dr. A. G. Few of Georgia : 

Resolved — 
" That it is inexpedient and unjustifiable for any preacher to 
permit colored persons to give testimony against white persons, 
in any State where they are denied that privilege by law." 

By this rule which is now a part of the discipline of the 
church, more than 80,000 of its colored members are denied 
the right to testify against a ivhite brother or sister in any case 
whatsoever. No matter what the crime may be, or how ag- 
gravating the circum.stances. The Reverend mover of the 
resolution can now violate the chastity of the colored mem- 
bers of his church with entire impunity. He is no longer in 
any danger of being censured and silenced by his more for- 
tunate brethren, as the late Rev. Dr. Fay was. Should he un- 
fortunately be " overtaken in a fault" the church has '• provi- 
ded a way of escape." And an ample provision it is, even 
for the chiefest of sinners. Neither the Rev. Doctor, nor any 
of his coadjutors, could desire greater hberty — or privileges as 
they might term it. The lips of tiieir victim and her friends 
are now hermetically sealed up, both in the church, and in the 
civil tribunals. The aggrieved party can now obtain no re- 
dress, however aggravated the offence. The State has de- 
clared her body to be the properly of her white brother; and 
the church has decided that it will entertain none of her 
complaints, whatever use he may make of it. What more 
could even the clergy ask ? But I forbuar. 

The course of the faithless miscreants who adopted this 
and the preceeding resolutions, was acquiesced in by all the 
local Conferences, and cordially approved by most of them, 
and by nearly all the distinguished and influential ministers in 
the denomination. 

In support'of the position assumed by the General 
Conferance, the Ohio Annual Conference 

Resolved — 
" That those brethren of the North, who resist the abolition 
rnopements with firmness and moderation, are the true friends^of 



the church, to the slaves of the South, and to the constitutioti of 
our common country." &c. 

The New-York x\nnual Conference 

Resolved — 
•' 1. That this conference fully concur in the advice of the late 
General Conference, as expressed in their Pastoral Address." 

"2. That we disapprove of the members of this conference 
patronizing, or in any way giving countenance to a paper called 
" Zion's Watchman," because in our opinion, it tends to disturb 
the peace and harmony of the body, by sowing dissention in the 
church." 

Resolved — 
*' 3. That although we could not condemn any man, or with, 
hold our suffrages from him on account of his opinions merely, in 
reference to the subject of abolitionism, yet we are decidedly of 
the opinion that none ought to be elected to the office of deacon, 
or elder in our church, unless he give a pledge to the conference, 
that he will refrain from agitating the church with discussions on 
this subject." 

The Georgia Annual Conference 

Resolved unanimously — 

1. "That it is the sense of the Georgia Annual Conference, that 
slavery, as it exists in the United States, is not a moral evil. 

Resolved, — 

2. "That we view slavery as a civil and domestic institution, and 
one with which, as ministers of Christ, we have nothing to do, 
further than to ameliorate the condition of the slave, by endeav. 
oring to impart to him and his master, the benign influence of the 
religion of Christ, and aiding both on their way to heaven." 

Which relij^ion, in the opinion of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, is not opposed to the perpetuity of Slavery ; but al- 
lows one member of the church to claim and use another's 
wife as his property, and to appropriate her to such use as he 
may deem proper or desirable, the enslaved woman having no 
right to enter and substantiate a complaint against her master 
before the church ! This is Methodism ! This is the religion 
which the Methodist clergy " impart^^ to the poor heart-broken 
slave, and to his inhuman master. This too, is the religion 
which they " impart" to their poor deluded vassals at the North, 
Bear with me while I present a few more specimens of it,, 
feom the lips of its most distinguished advocates,- 



37 

Rev. Ew D. Simons, Professor in Macon College :' 

•• These extracts from holt writ unequivocally assert the 
RIGHT OF PROPERTY IN SLAVES, together w ith the usual incidents of 
that right; such as the power of acquisition and disposit on ir» 
various ways, according to municipal regulations. The right to 
buy and sell, and to transmit to children by way of inlicrilance, 
Is clearly stated. The only restriction on ihe subject, is in refer- 
ence to the market, in which slaves or bondsmen were to be pur- 
chased. 

" Upon the whole then, whether we consult the Jewish polity, 
instituted by God himself; or the uniform opinion and practir^e of 
mankind in all ages of the world ; or the injunctions of the New 
Testament and the Moral Law; we are brought to the conclu- 
sion, that slavery is not immoral. 

"Having established the point, that the first African slaves 
were legally brought into bondage, the right to detain their chik 
dren in bondage, follows as an indispensable consequence. 

*' Thus we see, that the slavery which exists in America, was 
founded in right. 

Rev.. Wilbur Fisk, D. D., late President of the Wes- 
leyan University, Connecticut : 

" The relation of master and slave, may and does, in many ca. 
ses, exist under such circumstances, as frees the master from the 
just charge and guilt of immorality. 

*' The general rule of Christianity not only permits, but in sup- 
posable circumstances, enjoins a continuance of the mastefs au~ 
thority. 

"The New Testament enjoins obedience upon the slave as an 
obligation due to a present rightful authority." 

Elijah Hsdding, D. D,, one of the six Methodist 
Bishops : 

" The right to hold a slave is founded on this rule, 'Therefore, 
all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye 
even so unto them ; for this is the law and the prophets." 

Rev. William Winans, of Mississippi, in the Genera' 
Conference, in 1836 : 

*' He was not born in a slave State — he was a Penn?ylvanian 
by birth. He had been brought up to believe a slave-holder, as 
great a villain as a horse-thief; but he had gone to the South, and 
long residence there had changed his views; ho had become a 
slave-holder on 'principle.'" * * * » "Though a slave-holder 
himself, no abolitionist felt more sympathy for tho slave than he 



38 

drd^^-^none had rejoiced more in the hope of a coming' period, 
when the print of a slave's foot would not be seen on the soil."^ 
* * » »« It was important to the interests of slaves, and in view 
of the question of slavery, that there be Christians who were 
slave-holders. Christian ministers should be slave-holders, and 
diffused throughout the South. Yes, sir, Presbyterians, Baptists, 
Methodists, should be slave-holders : — yes, he repeated it boldly 
— there should be members, and deacons, and elders and BISH- 
OPS, too, who were slave-holders." 

Rev. J. C. Postell, Orangeburg, S. C. in an address 
at a public meeting called for the purpose of opposing 
abolition ; 

" From what has been premised, the following conclusions re- 
sult : 1. That slavery is a judicial visitation. 2. That it is not a 
moral evil. 3. lliat it is supported by the Bible. 4. It has ex- 
isted in all ages. 

'• It is not a moral evil. The fact, that slavery is of Divine 
APPOINTMENT, would be proof enough with the Christian that it 
cannot be a moral evil. * * * So far from being a moral evil, 
it is a merciful visitation. If slavery was either the invention of 
man or a moral evil, it is logical to conclude, the power to create 
has the power to destroy. Why then has it existed? And why 
does it now exists amidst all the power of legislation in state and 
church, and the ciamor of abolitionists ? It is the Lord''s doings, 
AND IT is marvellous IN OUR EYES : and had it not been for the 
best, God alone, who is able, long since would have overruled it. 
It is by Divine appointment." 

The same individual to the Editor of Zion's Watch» 
man : 

" To La Roy Sunderland, &c. 

Did you calculate to misrepresent the Methodist Discipline, 
and say it supported abolitionism, when the General Conference, 
in their late resolutions, denounced it as a libel on truth. ' Oh 
full of all subtlety, thou child of the Devil ." all liars, saith the sa- 
cred volume, shall have their part in the lake of fire and brim- 
stone. 

"I can only give one reason why you have not been indicted for 
a libel— The law says, « The greater the truth, the greater the li- 
bel ;' and as your paper has no such ingredient, it is construed but 
a small matter. But if you desire to educate the slaves, I will 
tell you how to raise the money, without editing Zion's Watch 
man. You and old Arthur Tappan come out to the South this 
winter, and they will raise one hundred thousand dollars for you. 
Jtew-Oileana'itserlf will be pledged for it. Desiring no further 



39 

acquaintance with you, and never expecting to see you but once 
in time or eternity, that is at judgment, I subscribe myself, the 
friend of the- Bible, and the opposer of Abolitionists. 

J. C. POSTELL, 

Orangebargh, July 21st, 1836." 

Rev. Geo. W. Langhorne, of North Carolina, to the 
Editor of Ziou's Watchman : 

" I, sir, would as soon be found in the ranks of a banditli, as 
numbered with Arthur Tappan and his wanton co-adjutors. 
Nothing is more appalling to my feelings as a man, contrary to 
my principles as a Christian, and repugnant to my soul as a minis- 
ter, than the insidious proceedings of such men. 

'' If you have not resigned your credentials as a minister of 
the iMethodist Episcopal Church, I really think that, as an honest 
man, you should now do it. In your ordination vows you sol- 
emnly promised to be obedient to those who have rule over you ; 
and since they (the General Conference) have spoken, and that 
distinctly, too, on this subject, and disapprobate your conduct, I 
conceive you are bound to submit to their authority, or leave the 
church." 

Rev. Mr. Crawder of Virginia, in the General Con- 
ference, 1840 : 

"Slavery is not only countenanced, permitted, and regula- 
ted by the Bible, but it was positively instituted by God himself 
— he has in so many words enjoined it." 

Such is the present ecclesiastical position of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, in relation to the system which John Wes- 
ley denounced as the sum of all villainies, and which as I have 
clearly shown, no person can support or countenance, directly 
or indirectly, without thereby becoming a felon of the most 
odious and criminal character. " Nearly one half of the min- 
isters," in eleven States of the Union, "hold slaves and trade 
in them"— that is, they claim their neighbors' wives, rob cra- 
dles and irundle-heds and sell their own Church members for 
purpeses of prostitution, (if the purchaser choose to put them 
to that use)— and the Church, meanwhile, through its highest 
tribunal, by a vote of 120 to 14, declares itself " decidedly op- 
posed'' to the abolition of this monstrous wickedness ; and 
asserts that it has " no risrht, wish or intention, to mterfere" 
with it ; and one of the six Bishops, and he a Northern man, 
the Rev. Elijah Hedding, D.D., tells us that" the right to hold 
slaves"-— that is, to claim his neighbor's wife and daughters as 



40 

ills property,' and to use them as such — " is founded on the 
rule, Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that others 
should do to you, do ye even so to them ! !" Is not this church 
then, a " Brotherhood of Thieves ?" Is it not, rather, a con- 
clave of incarnate fiends^ whose influence is as much more 
corrupting to the morals of the conimunity than the influence 
of the theatre, as its doctrines are more damnable ? For one, 
much as I depricate the erection of a theatre, I deprecate the 
erection of a Methodist meeting house nwre ! The stage does 
not teach my neighbors that the New Testament allows them 
to enslave my wife and children ; but the Methodist pulpit 
does ! I know not in what light you view this subject, but for 
myself, I regard every intelligent communicant in the Meth- 
odist church as more guilty and infamous in the sight of God, 
than the common prostitute, the pickpocket, or the assassin ; 
awd 1 cannot a«sociate with him on any other terms of inter- 
course, than those which I stipulate for these infamous char- 
acters. 

But the Methodists are not sinners above all the sects in the 
land. All the other large denominations are of a kindred 
character, as will appear from an examination of their eccle- 
siastical history, and the sentiments of their most distinguished 
ministers. They all legalize slavery, and most of them, as we 
shall see, own slaves, and publicly vindicate the system, or 
are silent as to its wrongs. This is specially true of 

THE PRESBYTERIAN AND CONGREGATIONAL 
CHURCH. 

The Presbyterians and orthodox Congregationalists of the 
United States, numbering in all about 600,000 communicants, 
are virtually one sect, or denomination ; their only difference 
being about church government. On all other points of reli- 
gious faith, not excepting slavery, they are agreed. They are 
all in Christian fellowship with each other ; and are connect- 
ed together by Associations, Presbyteries, Synods, and Gener- 
al Assembles. They are united in their missionary opera- 
tions; their ministers intermingle on exchanges and parochial 
settlements ; their communion table is common ; and they 
recommend and receive members from one to the other with- 
out any change of faith. And to make the fellowship more 
complete, and the connection more perfect, the General Asso- 
ciations of the Congregationalists, in all the N. E. States, where 
the Congregational Church is mainly located, send delegates 
to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, and re- 
ceive their delegates in return. In 1838, the General Assam- 



41 

biy separated on some unimportant points of doctrine ; but 
the denomination is still one and undivided ; and the separaiion 
was nothing more than the cleaving of air, which closes im- 
mediateiy behind the intersenting instrument. Hence, con- 
nected as all the local churches are with the general body, no 
person can unite with any one of them, without being thereby 
brought into fellowship with the whole ; for there is no local 
church in the country of which I have any knowledge, which 
is disconnected from the main body ; and it is not material 
whether we fellowship slave-claimants directly, or fellowship 
those who are in fellowship with them. In either case, the 
chain which binds us to slavery being unbroken, we partake 
of its sins, and must receive of its plagues. 

Now, there are in this church a large number of clergymen, 
men of great influence with the denomination, who gain their 
subsistence by preaching the Gospel, and stealing babies .' .' 
These " spiritual guides" of the Presbyterian Church, Hke 
their brethren of the Methodist Church, claim their neighbors' 
wives and daughters, and appropriate them to their own use. 
They tell us that these women are theirs — that they own them. 
Of course, if they own them, they can do what they icill with 
their own ; and what a clergyman would be likely to do with 
his own women — women over whom he not only possessed 
unlimited power, but to whose bodies he had a divine right — 
those can best judge who are acquainted v/ith the records of 
that department of the Female Moral Reform Society which 
treats of the licentiousness of the clergy. And what is done by 
the leaders, is also done by the people. Thousands of the lay 
members are slave-breeders, whose chief or only source of in- 
come is the sale of human flesh ! Their plantations are stocked 
with women, many of them members of the same church with 
themselves, whom they term Breeders, and they are engag- 
ed on an extensive scale, in raising boys and girls from these 
breeders, for the rice and cotton fields of the far South ; as 
the Berkshire farmers raise cattle and horses for Brighton 
market ! ! 

But the clergy of this genteel and influential sect have not 
been content with merely upholding slavery by the force of 
their example. Like faithful sentinels on its vvatch towers, 
they were the first to descry the dansrers of abolition ; and 
from the commencement of the anti-slavery enterprise, they 
have been among the most active and energetic in arousing 
the people to determined and obstinate resistance. No sect 
in the land has done more to perpetuate slavery than this. Its 
deliberate and cold blooded ganction and approval of the slave 



42 

system, and its murderous appeal to the mob to put a stop t©- 
the progress of free principles by Lynch law, is enough to- 
make one's blood curdle in his veins I — But hear them in their 
own words, recollecting meanwhile, that they claim to be the 
ministers of Christ, and that before them lay 2,500,000 wretch- 
ed slaves, imploring relief at their hands. Here is their an- 
swer to the demand of crushed humanity for the recognition 
of its inalienable rights. 

Charleston Union Presbytery : 

Resolved — 
" That in the opinion of this Presbytery, the holding of slaves, 
so far from being a sin. in the sight of God, is no where condemned 
in his holy word — that it is in accordance with the example, or 
consistent with the precepts of patriarchs, apostles and prophets, 
and that it is compatible with the most fraternal regard to the 
best good of those servants whom God may have committed to 
our charge." 

Harmony Presbytery, South Carolina: 

Resolved unanimously — 

" 1. That as the kingdom of our Lord is not of this world, his 
church as such, has no right to abolish, alter or affect any iasti- 
tution or ordinance of men, political and civil merely, Sec. 

" 2. That slavery has existed from the days of. thote good old 
slaveholders and patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, (who 
are nov/ in the kingdom of heaven) to the time when the apostle 
Paul sent a runaway slave home to his master Philemon, and 
wrote a Christian and fraternal epistle to this slaveholder, which 
we find still stands in the conons of the Scriptures ; and that 
slavery has existed ever since the days of tlie apostle, and does 
now exist. 

" 3. That as the relative duties o? master and slave are taught in 
the Scriptures, in the same manner as those of parent and child, 
and husband and wife, the existence of slavery itself is not opposed 
to the will of God ; and whosoever has a conscience too tender 
to recognize this relation as lawful, is ' righteous overmuch,' is 
' v/ise above what is written,' and has submitted his neck to the 
yoke of man, sacrificed his Christian liberty of conscience, and 
leaves the infallible word of God for the fancies and doctrines 
of men." 

Synod of South Carolina and Georgia : 

Resolved unanimously — [Dec. 1834.] 
^•^ That in the opinion of this synod, Abolition Societies, and 



43 

the principlefs on which they are foundsd, in* the United State?, 
are inconsistent with the interests of the slaves, the rights of the 
holders, and the great principles of our political institutions." 

Rev. Robert N. Anderson, Virginia : 

"To the Sessions of the Presbyterian Congregations with 
in the bounds of West Hanover Presbytery : — 

At the approaching stated meeting of our Presbytery, I design 
to offer a preamble and a string of resolutions on the subject of 
the use of wine in the Lord's supper ; and also a preamble and a 
string of resolutions on the subject of the treasonable and abomina. 
bly wicked interference of the JVortkern and Eastern fanatics with 
our political and civil rights, our property, and our domestic con. 
cerns. 1 7>i7/selfy dear brethren, have no reason to davbt the perfect 
soundness of all viy clerical brethren of this Presbytery on these 
subjects. But yt/U are fully aware that the present stale of things 
loudly and imperiously calls for an expression of their views on 
these subjects, and particularly on abolitionism, by all church 
bodies at the South. You are aware also, that our clergy, wheth- 
er with or without reason, are more suspected by the public than 
are the clergy of other denominations. Now, dear christian 
brethren, I humbly express it as my earnest wish, that you quit 
yourselves like men ; that every congregation send up both to 
the Presbytery and to the Synod, the ablest elder it has. The 
times — rely upon it, the times demand it. If there he any stray, 
goat of a minister among us, tainted icith the blood-hound princi. 
pies of abolitionism, let him be ferreted out, silenced, excommuni. 
cated, and left to the public to dispose of him in other respects. 
Your vffectionate brother in the Lord, 

Robert N. Anderson." 

Rev. Thos.S, Witherspcon, of Alabama, to the Edit- 
or of the Emancipator : 

" I draw my warrant from the Scriptures of the Old and New 
Testament, to hold the slave in bondage. The principle of hold- 
ing the heathen in bondage is recognized by God. . . • 
When the tardy process of the law is too long in redressing our 
grievances, we of the South, have adopted the summary remedy 
of Judge Lynch— and really I think it ore of the most whole- 
some and salutary remedies for the malady of Northern f.inati. 
cism that can be applied, and no doubt my worthy friend, the 
Editor of the Emancipator and Human Rights, would feel the 
better of its enforcement, provided ho had a Southern adminis- 
trator. I go to tho Bible for my warrant in all moral matters. 

. . . Let your emissaries dare venture to cross the Potomac^ 



44 

and I cannot promise you that their fate will be less than Ha- 
man's. Then beware how you goad an insulted, but magnanim- 
ous people to deeds of desperation." 

Rev. Wm. S. Plummer, D, D. Virginia : 

[To the Chairman of a Committee of Correspondence ap- 
pointed by the citizens of Richmond, to oppose the progress 
of anti-slavery principles at the South.] 

" I have carefully watched this matter from its earliest exis. 
tence, and every thing I have seen and heard of its character, 
both from its patrons and its enemies, has confirmed me, beyond 
repentance, in the belief that, let the character of Abolitionists 
be what it may in the sight of the judge of dl the earth, this is 
the most meddlesome, imprudent, reckless, fierce and wicked ex. 
citement I ever saw. I am willing at any time that the world 
should know that such are my views. — A few things are perfectly 
clear to my mind. 

" 1st. The more speedy, united, firm and solemnly resolute, but 
temperate the expression of public opinion on this subject in the 
whole South, the better it will be for the North, for slaveholders, 
and generally for the slaves, 

" 2d. If Abolitionists will set the country in a blaze, it is hut 
fair that they should have the first warming at th^fire, 

•* Lastly — Abolitionists are, like infidels, wholly unaddicted to 
martyrdom for opinion's sake. Let them understand that they 
will he caught, if they come among us, and they will take good 
heed to keep out of our way. There is not one man among 
them who has any more idea of shedding his blood in this cause, 
than he has of makinof war on the Grand Turk. Their universal 
spirit is to stand off and growl and bark at men and institutions, 
without daring to march for one moment into their midst, and 
attack them with apostolic fearlessness. 

With sentiments of greit respact, I remain yours^ &c 

Wm. S. Plummer." 

I know of no language in the vocabulary which is adequate 
to express the horror and abhorrence which must be felt by 
every untainted mind, towards the authors of the attrocious 
sentiments contained in the three last documents, and also to- 
wards the church and denomination that will sustain them, 
and palm them upon the world as ministers of Christ. What, 
has it come to this, that pastors of churches and Doctors of 
Divinity can not only steal their neighbor's wives without fear 



45 

or reproach, but openly advocate Lynch-law, and that, too, iti 
its most frightful shape, for the suppression of free discus- 
sion ? Wm. S. Plummer is not only a D. D., but one of the 
most popular ministers in all the South. He is at the head of 
the New School in the Presbyterian church, and is a promin- 
ent member of the A. B. C. F. M. And yet his letter is a di- 
rect appeal to the mob to burn us alive, if we go among 
them ! He calls upon the citizens of Richmond to re-act the 
Vicksburg tragedy! — to "cafc/t" the abolitionists, and give 
them a " warming at the Jive /" And this call comes to them 
from the pulpit, endorsed by every Presbyterian and Congre- 
gationalist in the land, for they all recognize Wm. S. Plummer 
as a Christain minister ! These three men are execrable mur- 
derers^ if Christ's definition of murder be the true one ; and 
yet they are of no doubtful standing in the Presbyterian church! 
They are the men whose delegates are received by every 
Congregational Association in New-England ! We have here a 
specimen of the fruits of their ministry in a bloody mob head- 
ed by church members. 

Amos Dresser, Massachusetts : 

[?*Ir. Dresser was apprehended in Nashville, Tenn. on suspi- 
cion of being an abolitionist — hrought before a Vigilance Com. 
mittee, of whom seven were ellers of the Presbyterian Church, 
and one a Campbellite minister — and sentenced, according to 
Lynch law, to receive 20 lashes with a cowskin, on his bare back.] 

•' I knelt to receive the punishment, which was inflicted by 
Mr. Braughton, the city officer, with a HEAVY CO \\ SKIN. 
When the infliction ceased, an involuntary feeling of thank.sgiv- 
ing to God for the fortitude with which I had been enabled to en- 
dure it, arose in my soul, to which I began aloud to give utter- 
ance. The death-like silence that prevailed for a moment, was 
suddenly broken with loud exclamations, * G — d d — n him, stop 
his praying.' I was raised to my feet by Mr. Braughton, and con- 
ducted by him to my lodg-ing, where it was thought safe for me to 
remain but for a few moments. 

''Among my triers, was a great portion of the respectability of 
Nashville. Nearly half of the whole number professors of Chris- 
tianity, the reputed stay of ths Church, supporters of the cause 
of benevolence in the form of tract and missionary Societies and 
Sabbath Schools, several members, and most of the elders ef the 
Presbyterian Church, from whose hands, but a iew days before, I 
had received the emblems of the broken body and shed blood of 
our blessed Saviour." (!!!!) 

Rev, Moses Stewart, Prof in AndoverTheo. Semin- 
arj, Massachusetts : 



46 

[To Rev, Wilbur Fisk, D. D. President of the Wesleyan 
'University, Connecticut.] 

" Andover, 10th April, 1837. 

Rev. and dear Sir, — Yours is before me. A sickness of three 
months' standing, (typhus fever,) in which I have just escaped 
deaths and which still confines me to my house, renders it impos- 
sjble for me to answer your letter at large. 

fc: 1. The precepts of the New Testament respecting the demean- 
or of slaves and their masters, beyond all question, recognize the 
existence ofslavery. The-masters are in part " believing masters,'" 
so that a precept to them,, how they are to behave as masters, recog- 
nises that the relation may still exist, salva fide et salva ecclesia, 
(without violating the Christian, faith or the church.) Otherwise; 
Paul had nothing to do but to cut the band asunder at once. He 
could not lawfully and properly temporise with a malum in se, 
(that which is in itself sin.) 

If any one doubts, let him take the case of Paul's sending O- 
nesimus back to Philemon, with an apology for his running away, 
and sending him back to be his servant for life. The relation did 
exist, may exist. The abuse of it is the essential an^ fundament- 
al wrong. Not that- the theory of slavery is in itself right. 
No ; " Love thy neighbor as thyself," " Do unto others that which 
ye would that others should do unto you," decide against this, 
JBut the relation once constituted and continued, is not such a 
malum in se as calls for immediate and violent disruption, at all 
hazard. So Paul did not counsel. 

After all the spouting and vehemence on this subject, which 
Jiave been exhibited, the good old Book remains the same — [That 
is, in favor of slavery.] Paul's conduct and advice are stil! safe 
guides. ■ Paul knew well that Chrislianity would ultimately de- 
stroy slavery, as it certainly will. He knew too, that it would 
destroy monarchy and aristocracy from the earth; for it is fund- 
amentally a doctrine of irue liherty and equality. Yet Paul did 
pot expect slavery and nlonarciiy to be ousted in a day ; and 
gave precepts to Christians respecting their demeanor ad interim 
With sincere and paternal regard, 

Your Friend and brother, M.STUART.'" 

Rev. Wilbur Fisk, D. D, 

'^ This, sir, [referring to the praceeding letter] is doctrine that 
will stand, because it is Bible doeirine. The abolitionists, then, 
are on the wrong course. They have traveled out of the record : 
and if they would succeed, they must take a difterent position, 
and approach the subject in a different manner. 
Respectfully yourSf 

W. FISK." 



47 

'Phere are several things in this letter and the eiitlorsenienij 
by Dr. Fisk, which deserve particular attention. 

1. The writer and the endorser, at the time of its publica- 
tion, were both engaged in fitting young men for the minis- 
try, and the former still occupies the same responsible station. 

2. They were elected to their respective offices by New Eng- 
land ministers ; and no objection has ever been made to their 
retaining their offices on account of their opinions on slavery. 
They may therefore be considereil as the representatives of 
the N. E. clergy, on the question of slavery. 

3. Tl^.e opinions of no clergymen in the country have great- 
er weight in their respective sects than those of Prof. Stuart 
and Pres. Fisk. 

4. Both are united in opposing emancipation ; and they are 
equally responsible for all the sentiments and statements con- 
tained in this letter. 

5. The "letter is as full and complete^a recognition of slavery, 
as any slave-claimant in the land could desire. It expressly says 
*' that the relation may exist" — that is, one man may claim and 
use anothers wife and children as his property — " without 
violating the Christian faith, or the church'" "Slavery,'' it 
adds, " did exist, may exist 1" '• The abuse of it is the essen- 
tial and fundatnental wrong !" That is, to convert a man itito 
an article of merchandize, and exercise unlimited power over 
him, is not sinful ; but whipping him unnecessarih^ maybe. 
This is the doctrine of the letter. 

6. To maintain this doctrine, the letter states a gross and 
palpable /a /se/joof/. It says that Paul sent Onesimus back to 
Philemon " to be his servant for life," Nothing could be fur- 
ther/rom the truth than this statement. Had the Reverend 
authors of it said that Jesus himself was a slave-liolder, they 
would not have been guilty of a greater libel, or more horri- 
ble blasphemy ! Paul's language to Philemon cannot possiblv 
be misunderstood. He calls Onesimus his so7i ; and tellV 
Philemon to receive him as his ^'^■dwn bowels'^ — that is, as his 
own offspring. He tells him expressly to receive him "not 
now as a servant, but abcve a servant, c brother beloved, both 
in ihe flesh, and in the Lord." He tells him still further — ''re- 
ceive iiim as myself;" that is, as you would the great Apostle 
to the Gentiles ; and he adds, " if he oweth thee aught, put 
that on my account, I will repay it." And he remarks in 
apology for sending back Onesimus, that he Iiad perfect con- 
fidence in Philemon, that he would do even more for him than 
he had asked. And yet with this plain and unequivocal state- 



48 

ment before them, these distinguished biblical scholars have^ 
the audacity to tell us, that Paul sent Onesimus back "to be a 
servant for life V^ Alas, to what lengths slave-claimants and 
their abettors will go, in supporting their horrible system i: 
They will beat, imprison, and burn abolitionists, and lie, 
and blaspheme the God of Heaven, in its defence! We have 
here in immediate connexion, five clergymen, three of thera 
publicly advocating Lynch law ; and the remaining two pub- 
lishing to the world the most glaring and libellous falsehoods, 
for the purpose of destroying the remnant of sympathy which 
is still felt for the helpless victims of their power! ! 

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLIES, OLD AND NEW 
SCHOOL. 

The course pursued by these bodies on the subject ofslave- 
ry is afac simile of that adopted by the U. S. Congress. They 
have never taken any action on the subject in favor of eman- 
cipation, and have generally succeeded in preventing a full 
discussion of it; although it has at times crept in, and caused 
them no little trouble. Thin, however, is nothing more than 
was to be expected of bodies composed mainly of man-steal- 
er?, and those who legalize man -stealing. Indeed, ecclesiasti- 
cal action against slavery, while their character remains what 
it now is, is not to be desired. The first thing which they can do 
for abolition is, to '■^repent and be converted." I might go into 
an extended narration of their doings, but they are too barren 
of interest to warrant the trouble. The history of their re- 
cent meetings is told in the following brief paragraph which 
I cut from the " Philanthropist." 

"THE GENERAL ASSEMBLIES." 
•• While there were but seven delegates in the New School Gen- 
eral Assembly, from slave-holding- bodies, nearly one-half of the 
Old School Assembly was from slave States. Bat the action of 
the two bodies on slavery, aS we have seen, difFere in nothing as- 
sentia!. 

In the New School, we notice that every Doctor of Divinity 
voted for the do-nothing resolutions. Dr. Edward Boecher, and 
Dr. Duffield, after delivering the most eloquent speeches in favor 
of acting against slavery, voted that it was not for the edification 
of the church to do any thing. 

It is said that anti-slavery men carried this resolution. They 
may be anti-slavery as far as talk goes, but no further. Under 
the auspices of just such anti-slavery sentiment, slavery has gain-. 
3d all its victories in this country. 



49 

They must be hard run for subjects of rejoicing, who appear to* 
think it a great gain that the question of slavery is really allowed 
to be discussed in an eclesiastical assembly I Wonderful! The 
people in their primary assemblies have got the start of these en- 
lig;htened bodies. They discuss abolitionism when they please. 
Suppose we shonld have some of our religious editor? congratu- 
lating their readers, that at last, their General Conference had 
graciously condescended to allow its members to discuss the pro- 
priety of turning adultery, or fornication, or horse-thievin* out 
of the church? 

Verily, this is progress I" 

THE BAPTIST CHURCH. 

This church contains nearly 1,000,000 members, not far 
from 100,000 of whom are in slavery, and many of them the 
goods and chattels of their own ministers, and brethren. In 
territory, it embraces the whole union ; but its members are 
most numerous at the South. The different congregations, or 
churches, are independent of each other in regard to ecclesias- 
tical jurisdiction ; but they are all united in one body, through 
their State and other local associations, and a General Con- 
vention, which meets once in three years, and under whose 
direction the foreign missionar}' operations of the church are 
carried on. Besides the General Convention, there is also a 
Baptist Home Mission Society, and an American and Foreign 
Bible Society, in which all the different sections of the coun- 
try are represented, and through which the bond of union 
and fellowship between the local churches is strengthened, 
and rendered more apparent to the world. 

The communion table of each of the churches is free lo all 
the others, except in a few cases where resolutions have been 
adopted excluding slave-holders (slave-claimants): but these 
churches invite to their table those who commune with South- 
ern man-stealers, so that their connexion with them is unbro- 
ken. No church has yet severed itself from the slave-holding 
body ; and hence, all who are connected with any one of 
them, are members of that body, and responsible for its acts: 
nor is there any essential difference in the moral condition of 
the different members, for the same blood which flows about 
the heart, circulates into the most distant extremity of every 
limb. No church has espoused the anti -slavery cause in op- 
position to the body, and demanded its division. In this re- 
gard the North and South are essentially alike. I n both, slave- 
ry finds warm friends,and firm supporters. In both, theiJe ire 
4 



50 

a)so those who desire its abolition, but whose desires are not 
sufficiently strong to induce them to separate from a slave- 
holding church. They love their church organization, cor- 
rupt as it is, better than they love the cause of the bleeding 
slave. Hence, they cling to it, and oppose the genuine aboli- 
tionists, who go for entire separation from slave-breeders and 
their Northern abettors. 

Soon after the last Triennial Convention, a Provisional Fop- 
eign Mission Committee was appointed by the disaffected 
Baptist ministers of the New Organization, for the ostensible 
purpose of carrying on a system of missionary operations 
among the heathen, disconnected with slavery ; but it proved to 
be a mere trick of the clergy, to quiet the anti-slavery agitation. 
All the movers of it are to this day, in full fellowship with 
the Baptist church or denomination as a Christian body ; and 
that church is made up, mainly, of slave-claimants and those 
who legalize slavery. And besides, I am credibly informed 
that a large sum of the money that was raised from aboliton- 
ists, on condition that it should not be mingled with the blood- 
stained contributions of the South,was appropriated to the use 
of the old man-stealing Board. 

A second missionary association has recently been formed 
by a portion of the same disaffected members, called the Ano- 
erican and Foreign Baptist Missionary Society ; but it is only 
another limb of the old man-stealing Baptist body. The leaders 
in it are still in Christian fellowship with Drs. Sharp, Bolles and 
Way land, and Hon. Richard Fletcher, all of whom are officers 
of the old Board ; and also with the Baptists generally of the 
North, who legalize slavery. The organization of these new 
missionary associations is only a family quarrel, and not a 
division of the family. But the case is one which demands 
separation, like that which took place in the Congregational 
church when a portion of it embraced the Unitarian faith. 

The last General Convention of the Baptist church was 
characterized by base servility to the slave power, and uttcF 
recreancy to every principle of Christianity. The North and 
the South there met together in loving fellowship, to advance 
the kingdom of the Redeemer. Every section of the church 
was fully represented. The slave-claimant, the Northern 
apologist of slavery, and the New-Organizationist, were all 
there, and sat down together. They took the object of their 
meeting into '^prayerful consideration,^'' and invoked the divine 
blessing upon it. But— oh, tell it not in Algiers!— their 
first act was to choose a Thief to preside over their delibera- 
tions! Subsequently, another thief was selec*'^'' to preach 



.61 

the sermon ; and yet another to make the prayer preparatory 
to the election of the Missionary Board: — and he, doubtless, 
prayed to the God of thieves; for their next act was to drop 
the venerable Elon Galiisha from the Board, and elect a fourth 
thief to fill his place ! And to close the farce, they united 
over the communion table in singing the hymn, 

" Lo what an entertaining sight 
Are brethren that agree. ! !" 

Such was the character of the last Triennial Convention. 
And yet the New-Organized Baptist ministers who had se- 
parated from the American Anti-Slavery Society, because 
women were allowed to stand upon its platform, saw no occa- 
sion to withdraw from it. They could participate in a Bap- 
tist Convention whose President was a man-stealing Doctor 
of Divinity ; but they could not remain in an ^9nti- Slavery 
meeting, where women were permitted to speak. Alas, how 
true it is that a sectarian cannot be a true man ! — But I am 
consuming too much time with my own remarks. I will 
let the Church speak for herself. She can tell her own etorj 
better than 1 can tell it. 

Rev. Wm. H. Brisbane, Cor. Sec. of the A. & F. 
Bap. Miss. Society, (formerly a slave owner :) 

" As a body, the Baptists of this country are still united in sup- 
porting, directly or indirectly, slavery and slave trading, and by 
consequence, all its terrible evils. Baptists who have no slaves 
themselves, are in intimate communion with those who have 
tliem. A very considerable proportion of Baptist ministers are 
slaveholders, and yet they have free access to the pulpits in al- 
most every part of our common country, yea, they administer, 
oftentimes by invitation of those who possess no slaves, the ea- 
cred elements of the Lord's Supper. In the Baptist general con- 
vention, for the thirty years of its organization, slaveholders and 
non-slaveholders have met in common fellowship. Its presidents 
have, for the most part, been slaveholders." 

Rev. Lucius BolIes,D. D., Cor. Sec. of the American 
Bap. Board of For. Miss : 

♦' There is a pleasing degree of union among the multiplying 
thousands of Baptists throughout the land. Brethren from all 
parts of the country meet in one General Convention, and co- 
operate in sending the gospel to the heathen. Our Southerly 
brethren are liberal and zealous in the promotion of every holy en. 
ierprisefor the extension of the Gospel. They are generally, both 
ministers and people, slaveholders" 



59 

I'he Baptist man-thieves of the South are liberal and zealous 
in the 'promotion of every Holy enterprize, forsooth ! ! — So 
says a leading D. D. of the Baptist Church, of the North. 
And he tells us farther, that there is a pleasing degree o^ union 
between these raan-stealers and the multiplying thousands of 
Baptists throughout the land ! This is doubtless true ; but to 
whom is this union pleasing ? Not surely to the despairing 
slav& ; nor to God, who can himself, of course, have no pos- 
sible union with thieves, although they may be very good Bap- 
tists, and Baptist ministers. But it is pleasing to the master, 
and to the Baptist clergy generally ; and it is doubtless pleas- 
ing to thdr father. Slavery is greatly strengthened by it ; and 
whatever strengthens that institution, cannot be otherwise than 
pleasing to him. 

Rev. W. B. Johnson, D. D., of South Carolina, Pres- 
ident of the last General Convention : 

" When in any country, slavery has become a part of its set- 
tied policy, the inhabitants, even Christians, muy hold slaves with, 
out crime.' 

Kev. Daniel Sharp, Mass., to Rev. Otis Smith : 

" Inregard to church action in the case, I consider it both inex. 
pedient and unscriptural. There were undoubtedly, both slaves 
holders and slaves in the primitive churches. I therefore, for one, 
do not feel myself at liberty io make conditions of commuynon 
which neither Christ nor hts apostles made. I do not consider my. 
self wiser or better than they were. Nor have I yet made such 
progress in knowledge as to believe that a good end sanctifies 
unjustifiable means. I believe that a majority of the wisest and 
best men at the North, hold to these sentiments. But if I stood 
alone, here I shall remain immoveable, unless I gain some new 
iight/which at ray period of life, I do not e»pect. 
I am yours, truly, 

Daniel Sharp." 
Rev. R. Furman, D. D., South Carolina, to the Gov- 
ernor of the State, 1833 : 

♦' The right of holding slaves is clearly establised in the Holy 
Scriptures, both by precept and example." 

On the death of Dr. F. which occurred soon" after, among 
the property advertised by his Executor to be sold at public 
auction was " A library of miscellaneous character, chiefly 
Theological, twenty-seven negroes, some of^ them very prime, 
two mules, one horse, and an old wagon" ! Query— Weref 



53 

any of the Negroes which Dr. Furmaii left, at his death, to be 
sold at auction with his mules and horse, his own children ? 
I am much incUned to think they were. For the Doctor de- 
rives his sanction for holding slaves from the " example" of 
the Patriarchs ; and if my memory serves me, they made con^ 
cubines of tlieir handmaids. I know of no good reason why 
their example should not serve in the one case, as well as in 
the other. Nor will the revelations which have been made 
within the past few years, warrant me in thinking that our 
modern Doctors of Divinity would be less likely to imitate the 
example of Abraham, in the use which he made of his prop- 
erty, Hager, than in his claim to her, as such. I know nothing 
of the private habits of Dr. Furman, but he was a slaveholder^ 
and an advocate of slavery ; and I have already shown that 
every slaveholder is an adulterer; nay, that he is guilty of a 
crime of a much deeper dye. I should be afraid to trust a 
friend of mine in the company of any man who would sell, 
or hold, her or any other woman, as a slave ! He is a libertine 
at heart, and has not the least possible regard for female chas- 
tity ; otherwise he could never consent to see, much less to 
hold, any of the sex in the helpless and unprotected condition 
of a slave. It is proper to add, that Dr. Furman was Presi- 
dent of the Baptist General Convention, a short time previous 
to his death. 

The Charleston Baptist Association, [Extract of an 
Address to the Legislature of South Carolina:! 

" The question, it is believed, is purely one of politcal econo 
my. It amounts, in effect, to this — Whether the operatives of a 
country shall be bought, and sold, and themselves become property, 
as in this State. ; or whether they shall be h'relinga, and their labor 
only become property, as in some other States. In other words, 
whether an employer may buy the whole time of laborers at once, 
of tliose who have a ri^ht to dispose of it, with a permanent re. 
lation of protection and care over them, or, whether he sliall be 
restricted to buy it in certain portions on]}', subject to their con- 
trol, and with no such permanent relation of care nnd protection. 
The right of masters to dispose of the time of their slaves, has been 
distinctly recognised by the Creator of all things, who is surely at 
liberty to vest the right of property over any object in whomsoev- 
er he pleases. That the lawful possessor sliould retain this right 
at will, is no more against the laws of society and good morals, 
than that he should retain the personal endowments with which 
his Creator has blessed him, cr the money and lands inherited 
from his ancestors, or acquired by his industry." 



54 

What will the working men and women of the North say 
to this doctrine of the Baptist clergy, that " the operatives of 
a country shall be bought and sold, and themselves become 
property ?" At the South, many of the Baptist brethren are 
the property of their priests — are the Northern brethren ready 
to become the property of theirs ? Dr. Bolles and Dr. Sharp 
who are now enjoying " a pleasing degree of union" with this 
same Charleston Baptist Association, would doubtless be glad 
to oion some of them. They are now nothing but " hire- 
lings," in the estimation of the Charleston Association — would 
it not suit as well, if a slight change were made in their rela- 
tions, so that instead of being ^^ hirelings,''^ as at present, they 
should become iXm property of their employers ? I am amaz- 
ed that any working man or woman in the country can look 
upon the i3aptist Church with any other feelings than those of 
abhorrence and alarm ! These ministers would sell every soul 
of them into slavery, if they had the power to do it ; for they 
have no more regard for their rights and liberty, than they • 
have for those whom they now hold in bondage. 

The Goslien Association, Virginia : 

Resolved, — 

1. " That we 'consider our right and title to this property 
[slaves] altogether legal and bona fide, and that it is a breach of 
the faith pledged in the federal constitution, for our northern 
brethren to try, either directly or indirectly, to lessen the value of 
this property, or impair our title thereto." 

Resolved, — 

"2. That we view [in the movements of the abolitionists] the 
torch of the incendiary, and the dagger of the midnight assassin, 
loosely concealed under the specious garb of humanity and reli- 
gion, falsely so called." 

The Savannah River Baptist Association, in reply to 
the Question — 

" Whether in a case of involuntary separation of such a char- 
acter as to preclude all prospect of future intercourse, the parlies 
ought to be allowed to marry again ?" 

Answer^ — 

" That such separation among persons situated as our slaves 
are, is civily a seperation by denth, and they believe, that, in the 
sight of God^ it would be so viewed. To forbid second marriage* 



55 

in such cases, would be to expose the parties, not only to strong, 
er hardships and strong temptation, but to church censure, for 
acting in obedience to their masters, who cannot be expected to 
acquiesce in a regulation at variance with justice to tlie slaves, 
and to the spirit of that command which regulates niarrlage 
among Christians. The slaves are not free agents, and a dissolu- 
tion by death is not more entirely without their consent, and 
beyond their control, than by such separation." 

Hung be the heavens in sackcloth ! — Let the sun hide his 
face in darkness, as when the infatuated Jews nailed the Son 
of God to the cross! — and let there be a jubilee in Hell! — 
What have we here ? An ecclesiastical decision vv'hich sets 
the authority of Jehovah at naught, and blots out the heaven- 
ordained Institution of Marriage among 2,500,000 of our own 
countrymen ! The decree of a council of Baptist clergymen 
in favor of second marriages, whilst both the parties to the 
original are still living 1 ! These vile hypocrites are not satis- 
fied with tearing asunder the loving pair whom God has join- 
ed in holy wedlock, and forcing them to take to their bosoms 
other companions whom they cannot love, and should not, if 
they could ; but they must make God accessory to the infer- 
nal cJeed. They gravely tell us that. He regards it as '• a separa- 
tion by death,''^ and of course, that he will hold them guiltless. 
This is the religion of the Baptist church I These are the 
men with whom Dr. Bolles assures us the multiplying thou- 
sands of Baptists throughout the country are enjoying c pleas- 
ing degree of union. 

If there be a God in heaven who takes cognizance of the ac- 
tions of men, and if there be in reserve a place of punishment 
for the guilty where every one shall receive his due reward 
I think the day of final retribution must be s.tri/ing one to the 
Baptist church. No crime was ever perpetrated by depraved 
mortals which, as a body, they have not sanctioned. They 
have wrested the sceptre of dominion frotn the hand of Je- 
hovah, abrogated His law, and made themselves the supreme 
sovereigns of thousands of His children, whose bodies and 
souls they have converted into merchandize, and now offer 
for sale in market with the neighing horse and lowing ox. 

They have annihilated the sacred institution of marriage, 
and legalized adultery and rape in their most odious and hate- 
ful forms, making thousands of the female members of their 
own church the Breeders on their plantations, whose off- 
spring are torn from them with as little reluctance as the calf 
is torn from the cow! — Their crimes would put Atheism it- 
self to the blush ? Did ever Thomas Paine, or Abuer Knee- 



56 

land advocate forced concubinage ? Did they ever contend 
for man's right to unlimited power over woman ? But this is 
advocated by the Baptist church ! Slavery is nothing but a 
system of forced concubinage and adultery ! It gives woman 
up into the power of her owner, to do with her as he pleases ! 
Thousands of the Baptists of this country claim, and exercise^ 
this power over the female sex; and more than nine-tenths of 
the remainder authorize their claim, and assist them to main- 
tain it. 

Can any woman in the Baptist church be pure in heart? 1 
think not, if she possess sufficient intelligence to understand 
the nature of her church relations. She is an adulteress af 
hmrt ; otherwise she could not fellowship a church which had 
annihilated the marriage institution, and thrown a million of 
her sisters into the market for purposes of prostitution. By her 
fellowship of slave-holders, she shows that she has, at heart, 
no abhorrence of an adulterous connexion ; and if she is her- 
self kept from it, it is only by the force of external circum- 
stances. If Jeremiah could say of the Jewish church in his 
daj^that they were " a/Z adulterers,''^ with how much more 
force and propriety may this charge be brought against the 
Baptist church, whose most distinguished ministers "Have 
given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they 
might drink!" — Naj^ who have even sold Girts for wine for 
their ccmviumon table ! ! — But I must leave this painful picture, 
and turn to the 

PROTESTANT EPISCOPALXHURCH. 
or this church I have litde to say ; for, from the very na- 
ture of its organization, and the character of the elements of 
which it is composed, it is the very last of all the sects, to which 
anv cause of reform should look foV aid. From the com- 
mencement of our enterprise, it has been an inveterate enemy 
of abolition ; and has thrown its entire influence, as a body, 
into the scale of slavery. Among its members have been 
found a few sterling abolitionists, but fewer probably, m pro- 
portion to its whole numbers, than in any other denomuia- 
tion. I believe the first instance of the opening of its meeting 
houses for anti-slavery lectures, is yet to be recorded : and it, 
in its ecclesiastical capacity, it has done less to sustain slavery 
by positive action in its favor, than some of the other sects, it 
has not been for want of love for the system, but from its 
haughty and dignified indifference to all matters of general in- 
terest. Many of its ministers and members are slave-claim- 
ants, and nearly all of them legalize slavery, and strenuously 



57 

oppose its abolition in the District of Colombia ; and in abu- 
sive treatment of people of color, they have, if possible, ri- 
valled even the MetliodivSt church. In one word, this church 
is an unimportant stone in the triple wall which sectarianism 
has reared around the slave system, for its protection and de- 
fence against the assaults of Christianity. But unimportant 
as is the place which it occupies, it is not, on that account, the 
less guilty, or deserving of repudiation. The abuse of one ta- 
lent shows the same perfidy of heart as the abuse of ten. 

THE UNITARIAN AND UNIVERSALIST CHURCHES. 
Whoever has bestowed an hour's serious reflection on the 
nature and tendency of ecclesiastical institutions, will see that 
tliese churches have much less power to haryn any v,'ork of 
reform, than those sects which are called evangelical. From 
the looseness of their organization, and the anti-pharisaic 
character of their professions, their ecclesiastical influence is 
comparatively limited, either for good, or for evil. Their in- 
fluence is more that of the individual; and in relation to slave- 
ry, they stand much nearer the position of non-church-com- 
municants, than do the , other sects. But, still they have a 
ecclesiastical existence, and of course, some ecclesiastical in^^ 
fluence, and that influence, however trifling it may have been- 
has all been given in support of slavery. As a body, they, 
have given the anti-slavery cause no countenance. The least 
that can in truth be said of them is, that, ecclesiastically, they 
have walked in tlie footsteps of the priest and the Levite, 
straight by the poor, bleeding slave on the other side, or have 
turned aside only to cast a cold and heartless look upon his 
.wretchedness; while in the capacity of citizens, they have 
joined his oppressors, and assisted in stripping him of his 
rights, and plundering his domestic hearto-stone. And as they 
profess to be Christians, and members of the church of Christ, 
and at the same time legalize slavery and the slave-trade, and al- 
so fellowship slave-claimants as Christians, theie is no essen- 
tial difference between them and the other sects. They are 
all under the same condemnation, and are alike the enemies 
of truth and impartial Freedom. 

THE FREE-WILL BAPTISTS, AND THE SOCIETY 
OF FRIENDS. 

These sects, like all the others, when weighed in the balan- 
ces of truth, are found wanting. As bodies, they claim to be 
anti-slavery ; but their claim is like that of the Pharisee who 
thanked God that he was not like that Publican who stood 



58 

by his side, when at the same time he was the more guilty of 
the two. It is true that they have spoken against slavery ; and 
spoken, too, in strong terms of reprobation ; but it is equally 
true, that with both hands they have upheld it ; and they now 
stand before the world in a more reprehensible light than any 
of the other sects. From motives of self-interest, or an un- 
willingness to depart from a rule introduced by their fathers, 
they admit no slave-claimant to their fellowship, but at the 
same time, as a body, they stand entirely aloof from the anti- 
slavery enterprise, or openly oppose it. And while sending 
forth to the world their resolutions and testimonies against 
slavery, they legalize it, and do whatever lies in their power 
to render it popular, and consequently permanent, by electing 
man-stealers to fill the highest offices in the Government. At 
the ballot-box, no sect in the land is more notoriously sub- 
servient to the slave power than the Free-Will Baptists. 

In New-Hampshire, where they are very numerous, they are 
principally connected with the Democratic party : and it was 
chiefly through their instrumentality, that that poor apology for 
a man, Charles G. Atherton, was returned to Congress, after 
he had disgraced himself and his country, by consenting to 
be made a cat's paw by Southern sla.ve-hreeders, to tear in 
pieces the sacred right of petition ! It was in their power to 
prevent his re-election, and return to Congress a thorough- 
going abolitionist in his stead ; but he was the man of their 
choice ! And yet, at this very time, they were passing flam- 
ing resolutions against slavery, and maktng loud professions 
of abolitionism ! 

I have said that the American church and clergy, as a body, 
were Pirates. Is this charge crue, so far as it relates to the 
Free-Will Baptists and Quakers ? It is, if aiding and abetting 
pirates, and protecting them while engaged in perpetrating 
their atrocities, constitutes one a pirate ; for both of these 
sects legalize and protect a species of commerce in the United 
States, which they have declared to be piracy, when carried 
on on the coast of Africa. Am I told that they have acted 
ignorantlij in this matter ? My reply is, if they are men of 
common sense, they must and do know, that voting for slave- 
claimants and the advocates and supporters of slavery to le- 
gislate for the country, tends to perpetuate the bloody system. 
Would they vote for such men, if their own wives and chil- 
dren were in slavery ?— So long as they are connected with 
slaveholding political parties, their resolutions and testimonies 
against slavery only serve to enhance their guilt, and aggra- 
vate their condemnation. 



59 

If the Government had instituted a system of Idol worship, 
and a hundred oxen were daily offered in sacrifice on the altar 
of some distinguished God, in the city of Washington, by an 
order of Congress ; what would you say of that religious secly 
who should pass resolve^-- against Idolatry, and at the same time 
vote for men to represent them in Congress who were oppos- 
ed to the abolition of these sacrifices, and also elect a high 
priest of this deity to fill the presidential chair? But such con- 
duct would not he more hypocritical and reprehensible than 
the conduct of t.'ie Free-Will Baptists and Friends, and the 
other religious bodies which have adopted resolutions against 
slavery ! 

The remarks which I Imve made upon ihe Free-Will Bap- 
tists and Friends, will apply with equal force to those branch- 
es of other sects, which have adopted resolutions against sla- 
very. This kind of action, so long as they stand connected 
with pro-slavery parties, either political or ecclesiastical, only 
renders their influence more formidable to the anti-slavery 
enterprise; and consequently their guilt is proportionably in- 
creased. They tell us that slavery is a heinous sin and crime, 
and yet act in concert with those who advocate and uphold it! 
Hence, on their own confession, they are the ^^ companions of 
thieves,''^ and in fellowship wiih adulterers. In my general 
charges, therefore, against the sects, no excepiion is required 
in favor of those local churches which claim to be ami-slavery, 
on the ground of having adopted anti-slavery resolutions, 
while they are still connected with their respective sectarian 
denominations, and in Christian fellowship with those who 
act in concert with pro-slavery political parties. The least 
that can in truth be said of such churches is, that they are the 
LUKEWARM fricuds of the slave, whom God will spew out 
of his mouth. 

I had intended to speak, in this connexion, of the character 
and tendency of our so-called benevolent Institutions ; but 
having already far exceeded the limits which I originally pro- 
posed to myself in this letter, I must pass them by with the 
single remark, that connected with the Boardsof most of them 
are more or less slave-claimants, and their treasuries are pol- 
luted with the price of human blood !— and that the money 
which our clergy beg of poor widows to send the gospel to 
the heathen, goes into the hands of such men as Rev. 
Wm. S. Plummer, D. D., the man who called upon the Rich- 
mond mob to " catch" the abolitionists, and give them a 

*' WARMING AT THE FIRE !" For the Same reason, I have also 
omitted'to notice several of the smaller religious denomina- 



60 

tions. I would here say of them, however, that they are all 
composed of sectarians, and not of abolitionists ; and hence 
they belon<? to the same category with the larger and more 
influential sects, and should be regarded in a similar light. 

But I trust I have already adduced abiuidant evidence on 
this heart-rending subject, to substantiate my allegations 
against the American church and clergy. With this picture 
before him, no one, 1 think will say that I have done them in- 
justice. True, I have brought against them the most tremen- 
dous charges ! I have denounced them, as a body, as thieves, 

ADULTERERS, MAN-STEALERS, PIKATES and MURDERERS ! But 

who, in view of the frightful and accumulated proof of their 
guilt which I have here presented, can deny these charges ? 
Who that has a mind capable of understanding the political and 
ecclesiastical connexion of the church and clergy with the 
slave system, as I have here portrayed it, and can comprehend 
the direful consequences of that connexion, will dare to say 
that God will hold them guiltless of these crimes? Gladly 
would I believe them innocent, but reason, conscience, and 
my outraged sense of justice, all forbid the thought. 

1 have now done with the proof which I intend to present 
in support of my first charge, and come to the second, which 
is, "That the Methodist Episcopal Church is more corrupt and 
profligate than any house of ill-fame in the city of New York." 
To convince you of the truth of this charge will require no 
labored argument, nor long array of documentary proof. The 
case needs but to be stated, to be fully proved. Those dens of 
infamy in New York, where the libertine resorts to satiate his 
depraved desires, are tenanted by women, who devote them- 
selves to purposes of prostitution. But are these abandoned 
characters compelled to lives of infamy and crime ? Is there 
for them no escape from the paths of vice ? Can they not, on 
the other hand, change their course, and lead a virtuous life, 
whenever t!iey choose to do so. But in the Methodist Church 
there are 50,000 women who are inevitably doomed to lives 
of prostitution. With ihtm there is no alternative. They 
are sold in market for the domestic Servglio, — they are the 
" Br'-,eders" on thefplantation, and are compelled, on pain of 
cruel scourging and even death, to submit to their owner's 
wishes, whatever they may be ! And yet this church has as- 
sured us, through its highest ecclesiastical tribunal, by a vote of 
120 to 14, that it has ^^no wish, or intention, to interfere in 
their civil and political relations !" It would nor place them in 
a situation where their virtue would be secure against the bru- 
tal marauder, if it could! The church, as a body, sanctions, 



61 

and great numbers of its members perpetrate on their slaves, 
the very crime, which the laws of your State punish with 
death ! 

My third charge is — " That the Southern ministers of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church are desirous of perpetuating sla^ 
very, for the purpose of supplying themselves with concubines 
froni among its hapless victims." From the nature of the case, 
the proof of this allegation must necessarily be circumstan- 
tial. But it is not, on that account, the less satisfactory ; for 
men never act, but from motives ; and the actions are a sure 
index to the slate of the heart. The tree is known by its fruit. 
In charging the Southern ministry with a desire to perjjetuate 
slavery for the purpose of supplying themselves with concu- 
bines, I do not assert that this is their only motive in support- 
ing it, but that it is a motive ! 

Now that these men are desirous of perpetuating slavery, 
there can be no manner of doubt ; for they tell us plainly, that 
they have no wish to see it abolished. They must, therefore, 
have some motive in wishing to perpetuate it. That motive, 
surely, cannot be a sincere desire to spread the knowledge of 
Jesus Christ, and the triumphs of his kingdom ; nor can it be 
love of wealth, that master passion of the human breast, for 
slavery is fast bankrupting the whole South. Nor is it found in 
their love of reputation ; nor yet in their regard for the quietude 
of domestic life ; for these would both be greatly enhanced 
by the abolition of slavery. It is, doubtless, found in part, 
however, in their love of power ; but is this their only induce 
ment ? Is it from a desire of domination alone, that they 
sustain a system which their founder denounced as the "sum 
of all villanies," and which is fast filling the land with pau- 
perism, ignorance, and crime .^ That surely cannot be. There 
is a stronger motive in this matter than the love of power ; 
and that motive is revealed to us in the history of the private 
morals of our Northern clergy. If Northern ministers pos 
sess such strong predilections for concubinage, as the painful 
disclosures ot the few past years force us to believe, hedged 
about as they are, on every side, with the safe-guards of vir- 
tue — if they are often willing to hazard the loss of reputation, 
and even the disgrace and sufferings of incarceration in the 
State penitentiary, to gratify those predilections ; is it not 
natural to suppose, nay, is it not morally certain, that the 
Southern clergy, nursed as they have been, in the very hot- 
beds of pollution, would be anxious to perpetuate a system, 
which affords them ample scope for indulgence, without dan-* 
ger, orjeven the fear of disgrace ? That such is the fact, ie 



63 

abundantly proved by the adoption, by the General Confer- 
ence of 1840, of the resolution denying to persons of color 
" the right to testify against white persons, in cases of church 
discipline." Pending a motion to reconsider that infamous 
resolution, the strongest remonstrances were urged against it 
by Southern ministers, who even went so far as to threaten a 
dissolution of the church, if the resolution should be recinded. 
I must give you a specimen of their expostulations. They 
betray a sensitiveness and warmth of feeling, as you will 
percieve, which no other question has ever called forth. 

The Rev. William Winans, of Mississippi : 

" He was never more deeply impressed with the solemnity of 
his situation — the act of this afternoon will determine the fate of 
our beloved Zion ! .... If yoa wrest from us that reso- 
lution, you stab us to the vitals I . . . . Repeal that reso- 
lution, and you pass the Rubicon ! Dear as union is, sir, there 
are interests at stake in this question which are dearer than union I 
Do not regard us as threatening! . . . But what will be- 
come of our beloved Methodism ? The interests of Methodism, 
tiiroughout the whole South are at stake !" 

The Rev. Mr. Collins, of 

"Admonished the Conference, that the moment they rescinded 
that resolution, they passed the Rubicon. The late of the con, 
nexion was sealed." 

The Rev. William Smith of Virginia, 

" Agreed with the brother from Mississippi, that there were 
interests involved in this question, dearer than union itself, how. 
ever dear that might be. Southerners are not prepared to com. 
mit their interests, much less their consciences, to the holy keep, 
ing of northern men. Conscience was involved in this matter, 
and they could not be coerced." 

Whence, I ask, is this mortal fear of colored testimony ? 
Why do the clergy see in it a dagger, that will "stab them to 
the vitals .^" What evil have they done, that they would 
sooner see the " Union itself" dissolved, than permit their 
sister, whom Christ has washed and cleansed in his own blood, 
to give utterance to her thoughts, in an assembly of his saints? 
What mighty truth lies hid in the bosom of the slave, that needs 
but to be revealed, to explode the church — "determine the fate 
of our beloved Zion" — and blast the rising "interests of Meth- 
odism, throughout the whole South ?" But one answer can be 
given to this question, and that answer abundantly confirms 
Bhe truth of my charge ! 



63 

I come now to the last charge in the long catalogue of alle- 
gations, which I have made against the American Church and 
Clergy. It is this — " That many of our clergy are guilty of 
enormities, that would disgrace an Algerine pirate." And 
needs this allegation any farther proof, after the appalling do- 
velopements which I have already made ? If so, 1 challenge 
a comparison between the conduct of many of the American 
clergy, and tlie Algerine pirate. Look on the darkest page of 
Moorish history, and tell me — Has the Algerine ever sold his 
sister of the same faith for a " Breeder" to " stock" the 
plantation of her haughty proprietor with human cattle, per- 
chance the offspring of his own body ? Has he shipped his 
brother Algerine to a foreign realm, and sold him for a galley 
slave, to one of a religion differing from his own ? Has h© 
denied to a portion of his own countrymen the right to read 
theKoran, (his Bible,) and sold those countrymen into slavery 
to raise funds to send that same Koran to those who were ig- 
norant of its contents in other lands ? Has he ever claimed 
the wife and daughters of his Mahomedan brother as his pro- 
perty ? Has he robbed the frantic mother of her babe, and 
with the price of that babe's body and soul replenished his 
communion cup ? Nay, has he even compelled the heart- 
broken mother, if she observe the ordinances of her religion 
at all, to drink from that cup the wine which was purchased 
vyith her own child's blood ? Such enormities even the tongue 
of calumny dares not impute to the Algerine pirate, in a soli- 
tary instance. And yet they are the settled policy of no in- 
considerable portion of the American clergy ! I They stain 
and darken almost every page of the modern history of the 
American church ; and if generally known, they would render 
that church a stench in the nostrills of the heathen of every 
realm on this terraequous globe! 

My task is done. My pledge is redeemed. I have here 
drawn a true, but painful picture of the American church and 
clergy. I have proved them to be a rotherhood of 
Thieves ! I have shown that multitudes of them subsist by 
aoBBERT, and make theft their trade I — that they plunder 
the cradle of its precious contents, and rob the youthful lover 
of his bride ! — that they steal "from principle," and preach, 
and pass resolves, that slavery "is not opposed to the will of 
God," but "is a merciful visitation I" — that they excite the 
mob to deeds of violence, and advocate Lynch law for the 
suppression of the sacred right of speech ! — I have shown that 
they sit at the communion table with man-stealer.s, and invite 
Pirates into their sacred desks t — that thev sell their own 



64 

sisters in the church for the seraglio, aud invest the proceeds 
of their sale in Biblk.s for the heathen !— that they rob the 
forlorn and despairing mother of her babe, and barter away 
that babe to the vintner for w'me for the Lord's supper I I 
have shown that nearly all of them legalize slavery, with all 
its barbarous, bitter, burning, wrongs, and make Piracy lawful 
and honorable commerce ; and that they dignify slave-holding 
and render it popular, by [ilacing Man-stealers in the Presi- 
dential chair ! I have shown that those who themselves ab- 
gtain from these enormities, are in church fellowship with 
those who perpetrate (hem ; and that, by this cormexion, they 
countenance the wrong, and strengthen the hands of the op- 
pressor! I have shown that while with their lips they pro- 
fess to believe that Liberty is God's free and impartial gift to 
all, and that it is " inalienable,'' tliey hold 2,500,000 of their 
ovvn countrymen in the most abject bondage; thus provingto 
the world, that they are not infidds merely, but blank Atheists 
disbelievers in the existence of a God who will hold them ac- 
countable for their actions 1 — These allegations are all sup- 
ported by evidence which none can controvert, and which no 
impartial mind can doubt. The truth of them is seen on every 
page of our country's history ; and it is deeply felt by more 
than two millions of our enchained countrymen, who now de- 
mand their plundered rights at their hands. In making this 
heart-rending and appaling disclosure of their hypocrisy and 
crimes, I have spoken with great plainness, and at times, with 
great severity ; but it is the severity of truth, and love. I 
have said that only, which I could not in kindness withhold : 
and in discharging the painful duty which devolved upAi ine 
in this regaril, 1 have had but a single object in view— the re- 
demption of the oppressor from his guilt, and the oppressed 
from his chains. To this darling object of my heart, this Let- 
ter is now dedicated. As it goes out, through you, to the pub- 
lic, a voice of terrible warning and admonition to the guilty 
oppressor, but of consolation, as I trust, lo the despairing slave, 
I only ask for it,that it may be received with the same kindness, 
and read with the same candor, in which it has b^n written. 
With great respect and affection, 

Your sincere friend, 

S. S. FOSTER. 
Canterbury, N. H., July, 1843« 



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